It's been a while since I reviewed a food truck; in point of fact, the only truck I've been to since August is Crêpes Bonaparte, for our Dueling Dishes battle featuring crêpes. When Edwin wrote that there would be food trucks at Blackmarket Bakery's open house the weekend, I figured it would be more of the same ol' same ol', and I went to the event to try Rachel N Co.'s new items.
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The Burnt Truck was one of the trucks there, parked off to the side. The name was really off-putting and left me clueless about what they sell. Was it burnt ends? Did they burn things (deliberately)? Was it a nod to the black color of the truck? Honestly, I wasn't going to try it until I saw the menu and prices: sliders for $2.25, tater tots for $2. Why not? The sliders were what drew me in: fried chicken sliders, cheeseburgers, and Sloppy Joe sliders.
The fried chicken slider, with boneless fried chicken breast, garlic mashed potatoes and white gravy, was a lot better than I expected. The chicken was juicy and hot; while I initially debated whether potato purée on a piece of bread was a good idea, it added some much-needed flavor. I'm not sure that the white gravy was necessary, though: either throw some garlic in the gravy (untraditional but potentially tasty) or leave the gravy off altogether.
The Sloppy Joe–what in Iowa gets called a “loose meats” sandwich–was even better, with yellow cheese sauce akin to Wiz. There was a touch of barbecue taste to the meat, and the addition of pepperoncini rings (something I normally don't like) was perfect. Two of those and you're good to go. The only thing I'd change is the bread: the sweet Hawaiian-type rolls don't work on a Sloppy Joe the way they did on the chicken slider. I'd love to try it with just plain, soft potato bread, the kind hot dog rolls are made of.
The tater tots were, well, tater tots. Hot, fresh, nice portion, but ultimately they're just tater tots: all you have to do is not screw them up. They were a nice throwback to one of the few positives of school lunch, though.
Service was quick: lines were short at all the trucks and my food only took 3 or 4 minutes to get to me. If you're in the area, they're worth a shot. If they're parked in a place with beer (such as Bootlegger's this coming Thursday), so much the better. You'll just have to get past the unappetizing name.
Find the Burnt Truck at theburnttruck.com or via their Twitter feed.
