Still Truckin'

Michael J. DeCicco

Hot delicacies and cold brews are back where a cool breeze and a grand view of Clark Cove will make a refreshing combination in early September.

The 5th Annual New Bedford Food Truck & Craft Beer Festival will open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Fort Taber on September 10. The event will again feature 30 of the area’s most popular food trucks. The trucks will be dishing out fan favorites such as tangy Brazilian American kabobs, loaded french fries, tasty cupcakes, as well as tastings of 17 regional and national craft breweries from Dorchester Brewing Company to Vermont Beer Makers.

“[Food Truck Festivals of America] will be bringing the ultimate food truck experience with entertainment and games for the entire family to Fort Taber,” the festival’s Facebook page notes. This year’s long list of food trucks range from Bem Bom Portuguese & American Culinary Fusion to The Whoo(pie) Wagon. Artisans and vendors expected to appear this year will include: Ash & Daisy’s Fierce & Sophisticated Boutique; Hand Turned Writing Instruments; Inspiring World Art; Three Gingers Kitchen; and the Wicked Wonders Shop.

Food Truck Festivals of America (FTFA) owner Anthony Pepe reported in an email communication that the new food trucks this year will include Piesons Pizza Truck, Cousins Maine Lobster (seen on Shark Tank), Villa of Lebanon, and Matilda (serving Empanadas).

He generously suggested the following food and beer pairings this year. Dorchester Brewing’s best brew is the Three Decker Helles. Its lager pairs great with Trolley Dogs. East Rock Brewing’s Passionfruit Gose pairs great with the Whoo(pie) Wagon’s offerings; Aeronaut Brewing’s Dr. Nandu IPA pairs great with The Sausage Guy’s sausages; Graft Brewing’s Lost Tropic Tropical Mimosa Cider pairs well with Friskie Fries.

“There will also be live music and a sports memorabilia auction, lawn games, and face painting,” Pepe said. “This is our fifth year. We shut down for 2020. Just one year. This is one our biggest events of the year, with 3,000-4,000 attendees expected.”

He added that FTFA has produced over 150 such events across the United States since 2012 and bills itself as the largest food truck event marketing company in the country.

This event, which will be held rain or shine, is family friendly, and children 12 and under are admitted for free. But dogs will not be allowed, organizers note. Food and drink will be sold separately from admission and the beer concessions will close a half hour before the festival ends. There will be a continuous shuttle (yellow school bus) that will start at 12 noon until 5 p.m. along East beach to Frederick Street to Brock Avenue, pick ups at Roosevelt School, Taylor School, and Hazelwood Park to Fort Taber.

To learn more about the festival, or to sign up as an artisan, volunteer, or vendor, visit foodtruckfestivalsofamerica.com.

A cheesy friendship

There’s a food truck in Taunton with quite a tale about what it takes to own and operate one successfully.

The Poutine Peddlers at 239 Broadway, the parking lot of the Union and Liberty Shopping Plaza, has been open since November 2021. Kristen Macedo, who co-owns the business with her best friend since age 15, Shelley Ring, had a sales job that ended with the rise of the COVID pandemic. That life-changing moment led Macedo and Ring to join forces as food truck operators.

They decided on poutine, a Canadian dish that ladles cheddar cheese curds and gravy over French fries, as their specialty, after Ring tasted her first dish of the new fad entree at downtown Disney Springs at Poutinerie.

They ordered a custom-built 18’x20’ trailer from Georgia “so we could run our truck in an efficient way without bumping into one another,” Macedo said, and the pair decided to use only genuine Wisconsin cheddar cheese curds and homemade gravy.

The result has been a winning formula for success. Macedo said she and Ring have seen customers from as far as Boston, Cape Cod, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. The truck gets busiest every day from noon to 1:30 and 4:30 to 6 p.m. “We’ve gotten people from as far as Wisconsin,” Kristen said. “It was someone who saw our posts on social media. We have customers who come every week, even every day!”

But it is hard work. They go through 60 pounds of hamburger in one week and two gallons of their homemade gravy every day, and they make their own cole slaw. One of their biggest challenges was when their large commercial freezer became so full that, since then, they’ve had to use two freezers off-site (a couple of streets over). They’ve also had to add staff and adjust their hours just to give each other a less brutally long work day.

Here’s one way all that effort has been worth it, however: Macedo proudly noted that in April, Poutine Peddlers won second place against six competitors in the Sixth Annual Poutine Indulgence competition sponsored by the Museum of Work and Culture and the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce.

Check out their hours, menu, and specials on their Facebook page and Instagram.