The Food Truck Festival of NY at Troy?s River Front Park on Saturday May 4, 2013 in Troy, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

After a winter that sputtered to a close, spring was in full swing Saturday, as Capital Region residents swarmed city streets to enjoy the first outdoor weekend of the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market, the Food Truck Festival of NY and the nearly 80 degree weather.

Even hours-long lines didn’t deter people at the food truck festival, the first of its kind in the city.

From gourmet sliders to wood-fired pizza and gyros, more than a dozen food trucks and local bars sold food and beer to masses of hungry foodies at Riverfront Park.

Slidin’ Dirty, a sliders truck that makes regular visits to the city, attracted a line with a wait of more than two hours to place an order. After an hour and a half in line, Schenectady resident Peter Forst, 56, and his son Nick Forst, 25, were still salivating for avocado fries, a Slidin’ Dirty specialty, and Cajun-style sliders.

“We’re dedicated to the cause,” said Nick Forst, an Albany lawyer.

The midday sunshine only strengthened their resolve.

“This is the most beautiful weather we’ve seen in a long time,” he said.

The Food Truck Festival of NY at Troy’s River Front Park on Saturday May 4, 2013 in Troy, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

Having already had their fill, a quartet of twenty-something friends eating on grass overlooking the Hudson said the sliders were worth the wait.

“This is amazing,” said Ellie Hobson, 24 a nurse, before asking whether her day in the sun had netted her a sunburn in addition to her pulled-pork.

At the farmers market’s return to River Street, evidence of spring was abundant. Vendors sold tender pea shoots, fresh herbs, broccoli and Brussels sprouts — root vegetables were no longer the star. Shoppers strolled slowly, looking over the spring pickings as local bands Shaker Fiddle, Zan and Slate Hill Band provided a musical accompaniment.

At Bootlegger’s on Broadway, sidewalk tables were filled as eaters and drinkers soaked up sun, suds and sights.

Back at the Food Truck Festival, longtime best friends Seana Munson and Tiffany Tokarchuk, both 43, enjoyed catching up and catching a tan. With weather this wonderful, said Munson, an Albany artist, they hardly minded the hour-plus wait at Timesquare, a Philly cheesesteak truck (of course, a husband holding their place in line also made the wait more bearable).

The woman celebrated the day wearing a strapless summer dress, a fuchsia flower in her hair.

“I just wish I had some sunscreen,” she said.

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Spring-sun-draws-crowds-to-Troy-food-truck-fest-4489125.php

The new food truck from Troy’s own The Brown Bag restaurant was among the vendors participating in the city’s first Food Truck Festival in Riverfront Park Saturday. (Jeff Couch / The Record)

TROY — The rising popularity of food trucks — and not just trucks selling hot dogs — was on display downtown this weekend with Saturday’s first ever Food Truck Festival at Riverfront Park in Troy.

The waterfront park was ringed with trucks serving everything you could think of; from burritos, to wood-fired pizza, to Troy’s own The Brown Bag serving the “South Troy,” a hamburger served on a bun made of two glazed doughnuts.

“We are very excited to be working with the City of Troy,” said Garth Elms, managing director of Townsquare Lifestyle Events, the promoter of the Food Truck Festival. “Troy is always thinking outside the box for unique events.”

Mayor Lou Rosamilia hoped everyone would be out for a pair of downtown events; the spring opening of the Troy Farmers’ Market waterfront residency and the Food Truck Festival.

“We are looking forward to a wonderful event,’ Rosamilia said. “Troy is about food, music and fun.”

Three bands were on the bill to perform at the Food Truck Festival, including The High Peaks Band, Chris Dukes Band and Funk Evolution.

“I think it’s great, there’s a lot of choices,” said Rita Haberman, who came all the way from Monroe Township, N.J.

She and her husband sat at one of the dozen or so picnic tables arrayed at the center of a circle formed by some thirty different trucks. “I got a portobello and mushroom gyro, and it’s delicious.”

Organizers hope the event will remain popular and become one of Troy’s regular seasonal festivals.

http://troyrecord.com/articles/2013/05/05/news/doc5185f769ede31010824021.txt

Lunch customers today in the East Greenbush Tech Park.

After hearing Danika and David rave about a food truck in downtown Troy — “perhaps the best lunch in Troy” — we figured it was worth tracking down. Also: we were hungry.

So today we caught up with the Slidin’ Dirty food truck at the East Greenbush Tech Park and talked with its owners about sliders, fried avocado, tiny kitchens, and how the Capital Region could be a bit more food truck friendly.

Slidin’ Dirty is the creation of Tim and Brooke Taney, a married couple with two small children from East Greenbush. Until recently, Tim was the food service director at Hudson Valley Community College. And Brooke has her own crafting business — she sells at the TightKnit market in Troy.

“After you’ve worked contract food service for a while, it stops being about food,” Tim told us today, alluding to how all the focus is on budgets, staffing, and management. “I wanted to get back to a sort of grass roots food service.”

So he and Brooke looked for a new opportunity. They originally thought they’d open a restaurant, but the startup costs were daunting. So they turned their attention to a food truck. They found an old FedEx truck, modified it themselves with the help of friends and family, and were on the street for the first time on St. Patrick’s Day. They’ve only been operating regularly for the last few weeks.

And what about the name? Tim says they were trying to think of some play on sliders, and then he heard the Chamillionaire song “Ridin’ Dirty” and it clicked. Also, they liked the way the name sort of spoofed the notion of the dirty water hot dog truck.

“Our lawyer said to us: Are you sure you want ‘dirty’ associated with the name? But Brooke insisted. She loved it.”

The food

Slidin’ Dirty’s main focus is sliders. We tried two of them today: the “Avocado Beef” — a beef patty with fried avocado and horseradish cream; and the “Dirty Veg” — fried tomato with fresh mozzarella, pesto, and a balsamic reduction. They were good. The burger was juicy, the toppings crisp. And the fried avocado — not bad! Crunchy and then creamy. The veggie sandwich was flavorful thanks to some zippy pesto.

The Dirty Veg.

Tim says they’re aiming to serve gourmet food that’s creative and easy to eat. For him, that means: “Buy it fresh, serve it fresh. Good ingredients. We make just about everything from scratch.”

They’ve managed to squeeze a full size residential fridge, a deep fryer, a flat top, a convection oven, and a crock pot onto the truck. Still, there’s only so much room — so they have to focus their list of ingredients. But they’re managing to turn out some creative food, rotating options on the menu (today’s posted menu).

For example, one of the sliders available today was “fish and chips” — a beer-battered piece of haddock with cole slaw, tartar sauce, and a crispy potato pancake on the slider.

And there’s the fried avocado, which we have to admit we were a little skeptical about. Explained Brooke: “I’m a big avocado fan, I love guacamole. And we’ve never seen anybody in the area [serve fried avocado]. So we tried it, had some people taste it, and it was a hit.”

And, as we said above, it’s good. Brooke says they usually sell out of the fried avocado — they also offer it as avocado “fries” — on the days they offer it.

Challenges

In addition to the culinary challenges, Tim and Brooke says they’ve also had to learn a lot about how to navigate all the various permitting processes in the Capital Region — processes that aren’t necessarily food truck friendly.

“Troy wasn’t sure what to do with us,” Tim says of approaching the city for permission to set up downtown. He says the city’s codes make it hard for food trucks — for example, technically a truck isn’t supposed to operate within 200 feet of another business. They were able to work things out with help, though. “[The downtown Troy BID's] Elizabeth Young has been really good to us,” said Tim.

The city of Albany is another challenge. Outside of Capitol Park, Tim says the rules make operating a food truck difficult anywhere that’s not private property. But, like with Troy, they’re trying to work through the issues.

The municipal structure of the Capital Region also makes things difficult. Even though the rules from county to county are basically the same, Slidin’ Dirty had to get separate licenses for Rensselaer and Albany counties. It’s hoping to get its Saratoga County license this week. And they’re looking at Schenectady County, too — but the time and money involved adds up.

Building a food truck culture

“There are a lot of cities where food trucks are a staple,” said Tim, pointing to places such as LA, where trucks travel around the city, communicating with customers via Twitter and Facebook. “We’d like to bring that here.”

He and Brooke talked today about wanting to see other food trucks take to the streets of the the area — maybe they could coordinate to meet up in spots so they could offer a range of options.

Whatever happens, it sounds like the couple is enjoying the change in their life. “We definitely get to see each other more now,” said Brooke smiling, “though we still don’t eat dinner until 9:30.”

Added Tim: “I wake up every day anxious to go to work — it’s been a long time since that.”

Slidin Dirty’s schedule is posted on its website, as is its weekly menu. They also post updates on Twitter.

They’ll be at Art on Lark this Saturday. And if everything checks out with Saratoga County, the Beekman Street Arts Fair on Sunday in Saratoga Springs.

http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2012/06/07/slidin-dirty