Party with the food trucks.

Time to shake off the turkey and mashed potato hangover and jump back into the fray. Since the Monday after a long holiday weekend is always the worrrrrst , Clean Plate Charlie has rounded up a few fun food and drink related activities this week in Broward and Palm Beach counties: Find ‘em after the jump.

See Also:
- Goose Island Beer Will Be Available In Florida By End Of November
- Sunrise Mulls Food Truck Ban
- Weekly Wellington Food Truck Roundup Starts Tonight

Monday

Winetasting
The Blind Monk in West Palm Beach is hosting a wine tasting event at 7 p.m. Monday. If beer is more your want, they’ll host a “Dark Side of the Rainbow” party on Wednesday evening. That night, they’ll play Wizard of Oz and Dark Side of the Moon simultaneously while serving Oz themed brews.

Tuesday

Goose Island release party
OK; for realsies this time. Tap 42 in Fort Lauderdale will host a launch party this week celebrating Goose Island’s long-awaited release in Florida. Their Goose Island tap takeover starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday with Goose Island IPA, Honker’s Ale, 312 Urban Wheat, and Mild Winter on tap. The event was originally scheduled for last week, but had to be postponed due to an issue with distribution. The taps will start flowing promptly at 7 p.m., so be on time for this one.

Winetasting 
Cary Combine of Duckhorn Winery will guide a tasting event with six wines from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at Virginia Philip Wine Shop & Academy in West Palm Beach. The price is $40 per person.

Thursday

Tequila dinner
Think wine dinners are for lightweights? Cantina Laredo Modern Mexico in Hallandale Beach will host a tequila dinner on Thursday. The four-course dinner will be served at 7:30 p.m., but a cocktail service begins at 7. On the menu are dishes like wild mushroom sopes, lamb chops with red pesto, and fideo rojo. The cost is $49.99 per person, and the featured tequila is 1800. Make a reservation by calling 954-457-7662.

Food truck rally
The “What the Truck?!?” food truck party on Thursday will feature eleven food trucks: Che Grill, Daddy’s Grill, Dolce Gourmet Cupcakes, Grill Master Café, HipPOPs Handcrafted Gelato Bars, Mobile Culinary Kitchen, Out of Many, The Rolling Stove, Taco Heat, Top Fries, and Waffle Gourmet. The party is 6 to 10 p.m. in the parking lot ofSeminole Casino of Hollywood. There’s no cost and parking is free, but bring cash for the trucks. This is a 21 and older event.

Down the Line 
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http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/cleanplatecharlie/2012/11/south_florida_dining_events_november_2012_food_truck_rally.php

Latin Burger will be out at Cooper City this Sunday.

Clean Plate Charlie reported yesterday that the Riverwalk Trust :Gourmet in the Park” food truck roundup was a success. In fact it was so successful that some trucks ran out of food and lines at certain trucks reached upwards of 45 minutes.

Jim Heins, owner of Latin Burger & Taco, said that the Riverwalk event was a well-advertised event which brought out a large crowd. He sensed that the crowds would be large, almost holiday-like, so he geared up by staffing extra people and bringing as much food as he could fit on the truck. He said the impact on the area was great, with local bars and restaurants benefitting  from the foot traffic, as well.

Heins noted that other events, like Thursday’s Hard Rock truck roundup and this Sunday’s in Cooper City, usually have shorter wait times for your favorite foods. He also said it’s also a good idea to follow your favorite truck on Twitter or Facebook to find out if they’ll be stopping somewhere for a lunch service somewhere near you.

Another option is to make your way south of the border….the Miami-Dade border, that is. Food Trucks are more established in Miami, so there are more rallies out there, meaning more choices. Some Miami-area rallies, like the weekly Haulover Marina and BTTR events, are only a short drive if you live in south Broward. You can find a list of Miami roundups on Clean Plate Charlie’s sister blog, Short Order.

Mostly, Heins said, be patient and don’t give up. As food truck owners see the love coming from Broward and Palm Beach foodies, roundups will be more frequent in your neighborhood, meaing more opportunities to get your favorite food truck fix on.

Over a dozen trucks will be serving up food and treats for the entire family from 4:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Potential Church in Cooper City. Plenty of free parking and lots of choices will make even the toughest food critic happy. Trucks include:

• CheeseMe Mobile
• Cold Stone Creamery
• The Fish Box
• The Flying Saucer
• Frita Man
• Grill Master Cafe
• Guiseppe’s Italian Sausage
• Havana Rice
• Latin Burger & Taco
• Latin House Grill
• The MexZican Gourmet
• Miami Angels Roasted Corn
• The Real Chill
• The Red Koi
• El Rincon del Coqui
• Slow Food Truck

Potential Church 12401 Stirling Road, Cooper City

Chefs Mary Brittan and Rick Simek, at their Curbside Gourmet truck

Business Owners Hope To Capitalize Off Closure Of Okeechobee Boulevard

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Mary Brittain Cheatham wants to take the frustration away from hundreds of drivers who have to maneuver around downtown road construction by offering them a tasty meal.

Okeechobee Boulevard at Tamarind Avenue is closed for the next month for a lane-widening project.

Cheatham, who owns Curbside Gourmet, has a colorful lunch truck on Dixie Highway near Flamingo Drive.

“We source most of our produce locally and we’re really trying to bring a casual but fast dining experience to the streets,” Cheatham told WPBF 25 News’ Ted White on Monday.

Some of the items on the menu include grass-fed black angus hamburgers, hand cut fries, crabcake sliders, fresh fish tacos and mojo pork tacos.

Cheatham hopes to gain new customers as thousands of drivers are looking for new ways to get in and out of downtown.

“I think that would be great for business and maybe we’ll acquire some more customers that will come back and see us again,” Cheatham said.

Steve Brown said he noticed the lunch truck while driving around the detours and stopped to eat.”By the looks of the menu, they’ve got some pretty nice-looking food,” Brown said.

The owner of Ambrosia Restaurant on Dixie Highway is also looking for a piece of the economic pie.

He’s offering a buy one pizza, get the second free takeout deal between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Vendredie Piera takes orders from brothers Jose (left) and Rudy Venegas at Curbside Gourmet. (Bruce R. Bennett/The Palm Beach Post)

In West Palm Beach, lunch time is the signal for an increasing number of downtown foodies to refresh their browsers.

Otherwise, they might miss the location of the movable feast known as Curbside Gourmet, the city’s first gastromobile, which rolled into town in late February trailing aromas of mojo pork tacos, lemon-tarragon aioli and grass-fed-beef burgers topped with carmelized onions.

In a Facebook revolution aimed squarely at the stomach, this retro-painted Ford step van is what happens when social networking marries crab cake sliders and hand-cut truffle fries.

“It’s all word-of-mouth or Facebook,” said Curbside Gourmet’s chef, Rick Simek, a former movie caterer and Florida Culinary School graduate. “People are Facebooking their friends. That’s our whole advertising. That’s how all the food trucks work.”

Every day after setting up, Simek types his location and daily specials on his Facebook page (www.facebook.com/CurbsideGourmet ) then sends out a Twitter feed.

By 11:30 a.m., curious passersby are lining up with Internet-linked foodies for Simek’s fresh-cooked fare.

 

Curbside Gourmet chef Rick Simek works inside the 22-foot-long vehicle. In the background is sous-chef Christopher Corso.

On a tourist-brochure-perfect Thursday, SunFest President Michael Weeks was trying a burger and fries while Simek was parked near the Intracoastal, on North Flagler Drive.

“People seek out special, unique food experiences and this is one of them,” said Weeks, between bites.

Four years after Twitter-fueled gourmet food trucks became a food phenomenon in Los Angeles, New York and more recently, Miami, the trend has finally come trucking into West Palm Beach.

“It exploded all at once,” said Simek, of his enthusiastic reception in West Palm Beach. “People are telling us they’ve seen (food trucks) all over the country and were waiting for this to get here.”

Stan Edge has driven down from Jupiter four times in the past two weeks, to work his way through the menu at Simek’s 22-foot, $100,000 rolling kitchen.

“I’m interested in the food truck phenomenon and the quality’s good,” said Edge, an insurance adjuster who reads five food magazines a month. “I try to eat at more obscure places.”

Beau Arnold, a street food fan, is back for the fifth time after spotting the truck on South Dixie Highway last month.

“Everything’s good – the BLTs, the tacos. The idea of eating out of a truck doesn’t scare me at all,” Arnold said.

 

Heirloom BLT on Sourdough and Mojo Pork Tacos from Curbside Gourmet.

In the truck’s crowded kitchen, Simek and his two employees – Vendredie Riera and Christopher Corso – are two-stepping as they cook each lunch to order, one of the ways in which gastromobiles differ from more traditional street trucks, which parcel out hot dogs or pre-packaged lunches at construction sites.

Gastro trucks are usually run by chefs, who use high-quality, often artisanally produced products, cooked with precise, professional skills. Simek buys locally grown greens, heirloom tomatoes and locally sourced fish yet tries to price most menu items at $5 or $6.

“Everything, even the crabcake sliders, is under $10,” said Simek, who used to own a restaurant in eastern Tennessee and is happy to dodge the headaches that come with brick-and-mortar restaurants. (Late last week, he had a bump in the road because of an equipment malfunction and a management issue, which will keep him off the streets for two weeks.)

 

Crabcake sliders with lemon tarragon aioli; $4 each or 3 for $10.

Food trucks use a fast food template to sell slow food, without the pricey preciousness that can sometimes accompany locavore food.

“It’s gourmet on a budget,” said Jochen Esser, vice-president of a Boca Raton Internet marketing firm and food truck aficionado. He’s organized a May 11 Food Truck Expo at Boomer’s in Boca Raton that he hopes will attract 20 to 25 trucks from Miami and Fort Lauderdale – and perhaps West Palm Beach’s lone truck.

“You can enjoy very good food at very reasonable prices,” Esser said.

In Miami-Dade County, there are 10 regular food truck meet-ups, with up to 30 trucks converging for the dinner crowd. Some trucks set up covered seating; at others, diners bring their own folding tables and chairs or spread blankets under trees. People play cards, kids run. Truck owners will often chip in to hire a band or DJ.

Until recently, Palm Beach County hasn’t been as receptive.

Last year, a truck called the Rolling Stove tried to make a go of it in Delray Beach and Boca Raton, but “people didn’t get it,” said owner Troy Thomas, who lives in Delray Beach but drives to Miami-Dade County every day.

Often, food trucks run into zoning issues with local governments. Since he’s licensed as a vendor, Simek isn’t allowed in the no-vendor zone in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach because of feared competition with area restaurants. Aside from the public parking spot near Currie Park, Simek has found only one other location, near the abandoned Carefree Theater on South Dixie at Flamingo Drive.

“I’m looking for other spots,” he said. “A big office park would be great.”

Food truck operators from Miami-Dade are circulating a petition to persuade area governments to relax zoning rules for food trucks. (www.ipetitions.com/petition/foodtrucks/ )

West Palm Beach chef Melissa Bryan believes that as a critical mass of food trucks emerges, local ordinances will change. Bryan and her husband, Seth, are renovating a 28-foot passenger van into a mobile kitchen called The Fire Within. They expect to be rolling between West Palm Beach and Miami by October (and are seeking donations at www.foodtruckroadtrip.com )

“I think there’s going to be such a huge influx of people who want this,” said Bryan, who works with her husband at Mija’s Tex Mex on Northlake Boulevard. “Look at the nationwide craze. It’s absolutely unstoppable,” she said.

 

McCray’s Backyard BBQ: 1521 45th Street (Richard Graulich/The Palm Beach Post)

WHERE TO FIND THE FOOD TRUCKS

An equipment malfunction and management problems late last week will keep Curbside Gourmet off the road for two weeks, but when it’s back, this is where it will be:

Curbside Gourmet usually parks near the closed Carefree Theater on South Dixie Highway at Flamingo Drive on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Tuesdays and Thursday, the truck is usually on North Flagler Drive, just south of Currie Park. Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., with catering available. For information, go to www.curbsidegourmet.com, or The Curbside Gourmet on Facebook, or The Curbside Gourmet on Twitter. Or call (561) 371-6565 .

Stationary food trucks have long been a cherished part of Palm Beach County’s food scene. Here are a few of the most popular:

McCray’s Backyard BBQ, 1521 45th Street, West Palm Beach, (561) 842-1513 or mccraysbbq.com.

Manero’s Mobile, 600 N. Dixie (at Quadrille), www.maneros.com/maneros-mobile, (772) 220-3011 .

Tom’s Place World Famous Barbecue, Boynton Beach Greenmarket, 400 E. Boynton Beach Blvd., Boynton Beach, www.tomsplaceforribs.com, (561) 843-7487 . Tom’s also has a dine-in restaurant at the same site.

Tacos al Carbon, 4420 Lake Worth Road (corner Military Trail), (561) 432-8474. (no website.)

Taco trucks can be usually be found in the 700 block of Southern (across from the Southdale Publix) and on weekends at the corner of Belvedere Road and Parker Avenue in West Palm Beach.

http://www.pbpulse.com/dining/2011/04/03/palm-beach-county-s-gourmet-gastromobile-is-here/

Chefs Mary Brittan and Rick Simek, at their Curbside Gourmet trucked parked along North Flagler Drive, hope the street food trend catches on in West Palm Beach. (Michelle Lara/The Palm Beach Post)

The Sizzle

FOLLOW THAT TRUCK! That spiffy sea-foam green food truck you may have seen tooling about West Palm in the past two weeks is certainly worth chasing. It’s the Curbside Gourmet, a take-out window on wheels, dispensing some pretty outstanding “street food. Yes, tacos and burgers are street food, but these are no random tacos and burgers. They’re tacos as in fresh cilantro-and-lime shrimp tacos and burgers as in grass-fed Black Angus burgers with heirloom tomatoes. (Oh, and the hand-cut fries come truffle oil-optional.)

Then again, chefs Rick Simek and Mary Brittain Cheatham come to the food truck business with discriminating palates. He’s a former private chef and movie-set caterer. She’s an artist (she created the truck’s funky signage) and a recent grad of the Florida Culinary Institute, where Simek also earned his chops.

Their daily menu is a testament to their shared belief that even street food should be locally sourced, in season and “honest.” Hence the Swank Farms garden salad ($8), the chilled sweet pea with mint soup ($4) and the fresh-caught mahi tacos on corn tortillas fresh made that morning at a Lake Worth tortillería.

We had these tacos for lunch one day last week when the tricked-out truck parked along a scenic stretch of North Flagler Drive, just south of Currie Park. Kicked up with some blackening spices and served with a wedge of lime, they were bursting with flavor. We also sampled the Korean BBQ pork tacos (tacos are $3 each, two for $5), sweet-savory bits of pulled pork brightened with sweet cucumber relish.

Simek says he hopes to add more trucks to Curbside Gourmet. The current truck was custom-made in Miami, where the street food trend has exploded and even chain restaurant-loving suburbanites have gone food-truck crazy. “I’m hoping the same happens up here,” he says.

We’re hoping so, too – especially if it means more mobile menus listing items like crabcake sliders with lemon-tarragon aioli.

You can follow Curbside Gourmet online at www.CurbsideGourmet.com or Twitter.com/CurbsideGourmet, or call (561) 371-6565 for more information.

http://www.pbpulse.com/dining/2011/03/01/new-food-truck-rolls-in-with-fab-street-fare/