Cleveland Food Trucks

[edsel]

Food trucks may be old news in other cities, but it took a change in regulations last year to bring them to Cleveland. We now have a half-dozen or so trucks selling food in a variety of styles, from Asian-inspired to wood-fired pizza.

Up until now I've only managed to chase down two of the trucks. Dim and Den Sum has been around for nearly a year now. Owner Chris Hodgson has been a tireless promoter of the food truck scene. I'll post a few photos and some comments about their food in a bit. The other truck I've tracked down is Umami Moto. Co-owners Sandy Madachik and Jae Stulock are relatively new to the food business, but they bring a great attitude and some tasty food to Cleveland.

Tomorrow (Sunday March 27) we'll get the opportunity to sample food from a half-dozen trucks and a mobile pizza oven. C-Town Chow Down runs from 11:00 to 3:00 at Lincoln Park in Tremont. In addition to the previously mentioned Umami Moto and Dim and Den Sum, Set's Polish Boys, Cakes Plus Traveling Treats, StrEat Mobile Bistro, JiBARO, and Pranzo Forno Wood Fired Oven will be there. Over a thousand people have signed on for the Facebook event, so it promises to be quite the scene. The group organizing the event promise to do similar ones around the city.

[IndyRob]

Interesting. Are these predominantly locals - newly empowered due to the change in regulations?

Edited March 27, 2011 by IndyRob (log)

[edsel]

Yeah, these are all local folks. A couple of them are from the Akron area, the rest are from around Cleveland.

[torakris]

It's going to be cold tomorrow but I'm really looking forward to trying out the trucks! I'm taking the kids along so we can sample as many trucks as possible. I hope you'll be taking lots of pictures.

[edsel]

The Chow Down was a big success, despite the chilly weather. Here's a shot of W. 11th Street lined with food trucks just before the start of the event:

First stop after surveying the lineup was the Fahrenheit truck. Chef Rocco was serving some very tasty food indeed. I had the lamb slider with salad.

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Next up was Dim and Den Sum. I had the coffee-braise short rib steamed bun.

A friend and I strolled down the street to check out the recently remodeled Lilly Handmade Chocolates (worthy of a post itself...) When we returned to Lincoln park this is the sight that greeted us:

I decided not to brave the long lines. I'll check out the other trucks at a future Chow Down.

(Photos link to larger versions on Flickr.)

[NancyH]

The cold, and those crowds, are two reasons why we didn't make it today. Looks like a great time was had!

[torakris]

This was such a great event! I can't believe how many people turned out despite the below freezing weather, I can't imagine what it would have been like if the weather was nicer. We got there just as it started and had no problem with the lines. My kids and I shared:

Lamb sliders

Meatballs

Spring rolls

Korean burger

PBLT (pulled pork BLT)

Polish boy topped French fries slathered in BBQ and slaw