South Beach Wine & Food Festival: "Bizarre Foods" Andrew Zimmern Hosts Foodtruck Festival

It's easy to indulge in the world's most comforting cuisine, but a food lover's dreams come true when novelty and creativity joyfully meet a the crossroads with quality and skill.

South Beach Wine & Food Festival event: Trucks on the Midtown Tracks was hosted by Food Network's Bizarre Foods' host Andrew Zimmern.

Zimmern had this to say about mobile eateries: “This is not a trend.  This is the way people have eaten forever. You have a small mobile restaurant serving three, four items – what could be more perfect?”

Food trucks are fully capable and some quite exceptional at serving decadent food that ranges from simple classics such as hotdogs and sandwiches to extraordinary, modern parcels.

And the winner is.....Ms. Cheezious....for a second year in a row!

South in Yo' Mouth BBQ Pork Grilled Cheese

 The energy and personality emanating from this truck came second only to the amazing product they were slinging to the masses!  Now, I've had some pretty dressed up grilled cheese from mobile eateries and fine dining establishments alike...Boston has two pretty great grilled cheese trucks of our own, BUT Ms. Cheezious really did blow my mind and I wished I wasn't so stuffed by the time I made my way to this lovely lady.  I certainly would have returned for seconds!

First, the buttery Texas toast- amazing! The smoky, saucy bbq shredded pork was tender and tangy and topped with melted cheddar and fried pickles.

 

There were a good number of worthy runner-ups for this gourmand!

 

SLIDERS:

Zimmern and I shared the same slider favorite: Slow Food Truck's beef shorty slider with tender pulled-off-the-bone beef short rib served with queso fresco, local arugula and crispy shallots.

SFT's slider was a perfect combination of soft bread, tender braised beef, peppery arugula, creamy queso fresco, and crispy, sweet shallots.

Curbside Gourmet served up a brilliant, apparently last minute change, in their Thai BBQ pork slider with apple ginger slaw on a toasted mini bun:

Thai BBQ pork slider with apple ginger slaw

 

 I also enjoyed the sweet and savory "Vandross", Friar Tuck's signature cheeseburger nestled between tiny, sugary glaze-encrusted donuts and layered with cinnamon maple bacon, lettuce, tomato, and cheese sauce:

Cheeseburger with glazed donut buns

Friar Tuck's also gets brownie points for the most decorative truck, appearing more like a cottage in the woods than a mobile eatery.

More Yummy Stuff

Andrew Zimmern's AZ Canteen truck served up a pretty dog!  A sizeable Piedmontese-cattle hot dog, topped with pickled jalapeno, cilantro, and cabbage slaw and a refreshing Jamaican hibiscus punch!

The AZ Canteen Dog

 The culinary artists at GastroPod created their version of Pho ("GastroPho") was an edible masterpiece in a bowl.  Their deconstruction of this traditional Vietnamese soup consisted of a crispy beef tendon chicharrones served as the platform for sous vide short rib, mung beans,and Vietnamese herbs stewed in oxtail broth prior to construction.

IL Fiorentino served up delicious "Autentica Cucina Italiana" - handmade, creamy chive potato-filled ravioli bathed in rich Parmesan fondue, beautiful, deep purple braised radicchio, dusted with crunchy, crushed walnuts and a balsamic reduction drizzle.

Potato ravioli with Parmesan fondue, radicchio, and walnut

Perhaps THE most amazing quesadilla I've EVER eaten, Crazydilla

rocked out with the Cubadilla - slow-roasted Cuban pork, Serrano ham, Swiss cheese, and pickles on an organic multi-grain tortilla with garlic mustard aioli.  This crazydilla packed in great savory layers of flavor!

Cubadilla

Cuban Cube's cleaver Cuba Libre was a crisp, deep fried Spanish sweet potato sphere stuffed with delicate rum and cola braised ropa vieja (shredded beef) and topped with sauce and a Materva-infused sugarcane.

Cuban Cube's Cuba Libre

Remaining in the realm of Cuba, El Rey de las Fritas's friendly bunch presented a tasty original Cuban frita - Family recipe of ground beef patty on a Cuban roll topped with crispy cooked onions and julienne shoestring fries. 

Waffleosophy served up a Coconut Curry Beef and Hong Kong style egg puff waffles topped red curry braised beef, and pickled, diced pineapple slaw.

 

Pork, Poultry, & Pesce Disappointments

Surprisingly, I could hardly take a second bite of Smithfield's Versaille Cuban Combo.  Smithfield co-created this sad, poorly flavored sandwich with Miami Institution.  The Cuban sandwich was made with sugar-glazed Smithfield ham, mojo-marinated Smithfield oven roasted pork, Swiss cheese, pickles, and yellow mustard on Cuban bread.  The end result- dry and cardboard-esque - lacking any hint of sugar glaze or mojo (sadly).

The Smithfield Versailles Cuban Combo

Another majorly bizarre serving was Pescados Unidos' blackened mahi sausage.

You've gotta admit that a fish sausage, on paper, seems both intriguing and horrifying!  I left this stand with the first adjective and after taking one brave bite, only the latter lingered!  Not only was this freaky concoction strange, but the taste and texture was truly repugnant.  Had the green papaya, jicama, and jalapeno slaw carried enough flavor to cleanse my palate, I would not have been forced to run over to the diet Pepsi stand and shoot their new blueberry lime and pomegranate mojito flavored soft drinks. 

"Blackened" Mahi Sausage

While checking out the menu handed to attendees in line, I was immediately excited about the 2 Jive Turkeys truck, known for their turkey servings, as I am privy to fried turkey only once a year when my grandmother makes one for Thanksgiving dinner. 

This day, they were serving up "Dyn-o-mite" Rolls made with deep fried turkey rolled in a spring roll doe with veggies and then drizzled with an unnecessary, overwhelming red wine and cranberry reduction making it inedible.

 
The heavy drizzle of sweet sauce drowned out any real flavor, but it was still pretty evident that the turkey was sparse and didn't have a hint of crispy skin (the best part of a fried turkey).

Firewall Food Truck was outfitted with the most impressive kitchen equipment: a wood fired pizza oven and a dough tossing lady!

 
With all of the fun action on board, Firewall simply fell flat with their Florida Lobster Pizza made with locally sourced spiny lobster, garlic butter sauce, mozzarella, scallions,  and lemon juice.  I found this pizza to be a bit bland and boring.  It simply did not live up to my expectations.  There was certainly a made dash going on in the kitchen, as the pies were seemingly being made to order or the kitchen was just a bit backed up.  Perhaps a little more toasting of the crust and a bit more garlic sauce could have elevated the pizza.  Since it was my 3rd truck or so and I was one of the first few attendees to enter, I could have gone back to see if more care was being put into the pies as the cooks reached a stride, but it became a far away memory.

Spiny Lobster Pizza

This & That

At times, random foods were served from trays roaming around the event.  Most I was able to turn down, but I believe no one can dismiss grilled corn:

Sweet Heat:  This grilled sweet grilled corn was coated in a spicy chipotle sauce!  Yum!

Sweet and Savory:  Handmade toffee covered potatochips = Potoffee

Ludicrous: Banana cupcake with chocolate chips and bacon bits,topped with peanut butter buttercream witha drizzle of caramel, chocolate ganache and bacon bits.  Raspberry Lemonade: Lemon cupcake with a raspberry center topped with lemon cream cheese frosting, garnished with raspberries.  Ultimate Chocolate: See below Red Velvet: classic.

Contenti Cupcakes-Ultimate Chocolate cupcake with chocolate buttercream, chocolate ganache, mini chocolate chips, and piece of chocolate fudge

 After only 1.5 hours, we were on our way with a Brooklyn Italian Ice Co. Lemon and Mango ice to go!