Quick Trip 1: ATL Land of the Mostly Free, Home of the Braves (Part 2)

Our latest adventure when it comes to the world of "culinary arts" is visiting and trying out local fare at food trucks. Food trucks...you either love em...you hate em...or you are scared of em...we happen to love em. On a day to day basis...we have to love them from afar though...our big cities are just now getting into this food craze...and local trucks are not easy to find. So when we are in a city where these trucks are abundant...we definitely take advantage of it.

Eddie and I finished off our time in Hotlanta by taking a little trip to the Atlanta Food Truck Park. Thanks Atlanta for putting a bunch of trucks in one area...making it way easy to hit up more than one (and also eliminating the twitter/facebook/website search to find out where each truck would be  during a specific hour of a specific day). Driving around Atlanta's one way streets to find a food truck was not a high priority on Eddie's list of things to do (even though I graciously offered to "help" him with the directions and such).

 

Food trucks really are one of the hottest food trends of the year...even The Food Network has a show dedicated to these restaurants on wheels. While they have been pretty popular up north and out west for a while now...food trucks are FINALLY making their way down south...and there's a food truck for pretty much everything...your standard taco truck, bbq truck, dumpling truck, burger truck, cupcake truck (yes!), noodle truck, soul food truck, soup truck...you think of it...there's probably a truck with it on board roaming the streets of some town, some where.

 

I think food trucks are totally interesting, and they have provided me and Ed with the opportunity to sample some delish foods we otherwise might not have given a chance. While I have read that some of these trucks are costly, our experiences have proven the opposite and have not broken the bank. You really gotta give props to whoever came up with the whole restaurant on wheels idea. The concept is genius! A mobile eatery is just plain fun...I wish they would frequent my neighborhood. We would be like kids running for the ice cream truck for sure.

 

We did actually check out the ATL Food Truck facebook the morning that we went...just to see the list of all of the trucks that would be there Saturday afternoon, but they seem to usually have about 8 trucks or so each day...so you are looking at a good variety no matter who happens to be there. While the parking for the food truck park wasn't exactly easy to figure out (we ended up at the gas station next door and just walked over...our bad), we did end up finding the joint pretty easily. Here's something else I love about a food truck...short lines (or none at all)...no reservation required...and super friendly staff.

 

Our first stop was the Blaxican...yeah you read that right...the Blaxican. This truck offered up a fusion of soul food and mexican cuisine...think comfort food with a twist. Ed ordered a collard green quesadilla and jalapeno mac & cheese. I tried both...and while I swear I am Southern to the core...I just never have been a fan of collard greens...but the jalapeno mac and cheese was amazing!

 

 

The W.O.W. food truck was at the top of my list. This #1 rated ATL food truck had not only what I deemed the tastiest food in the park...but also the coolest truck design! I chose the Smoky Bowl from W.O.W. (or Wonderlicious on Wheels if you must know)...oven roasted potatoes covered (or SMOTHERED) with pulled chicken...cheddar cheese...bbq sauce and some sort of chipotle cream sauce. On my own personal scale of yuck to yum...this was way yum!

 

 

The pink cupcake cart (hello cuteness on wheels) was sadly not open when we were at the park...but King of Pops was open and ready for our business. I just had to choose which of their all-natural frozen pop treats I would purchase. I went for the cookies and cream pop...we're talking huge chunks of chocolate chip cookie creamy goodness...I was NOT disappointed...King of Pop's mission statement is as follows: To provide an ecologically responsible, fresh, all natural frozen treat in a fun neighborhood environment...so um...yeah...mission accomplished!

 

 

We were fans of the food truck park and look forward to trying more out during our next quick trip to ATL. Oh one more food related little item of note: Nothing warms our hearts more than seeing that "Hot n Now" sign light up at the Krispy Kreme...we just can't resist those warm velvety glazed doughnuts made to order. Where we live you are either a fan of Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Donuts...but in Atlanta...you've got one more to choose from...Sublime Doughnuts.

 

 

Sublime definitely lived up to their name. This little hole in the wall shop is easy to miss, but we made sure to find our way there. The menu is straight out of a dessert lovers heart...fresh strawberries and cream donut...smore donut (yes please!)...peanut butter cup donut (I'll take one of those too)...A town cream (add that as well)...butterfinger...nutella...(before you know it...we had a dozen). Don't worry we didn't eat them all! We could have but we didn't (will power to the max).  We shared with our nearest and dearest. Our families love edible souvenirs. Til next time ATL!!

 

Now here's how the trip stacked up for each of us:

Nikki: Fun for the Blaxican! Fab for W.O.W! Fab for King of Pops! Fun for Sublime Doughnuts. My thoughts are above

Eddie: Fab for the Blaxican! How can you go wrong when you mix two of my favorite things together? I love Mexican food, and I am a huge soul food kind of guy. Blending the flavors together gave a great twist to something I thought I knew everything about. Fab for W.O.W! The wifey only shared a couple of bites with me, but what I tasted was great. Fair for King of Pops! My experience was a little different from Nikki's because of my choice of pop. I thought I would try something different and ordered the coconut lemongrass pop, which didn't exactly tingle my tastebuds with the sweet flavor I was looking for. You'll notice from my picture, my first bite was actually pretty yuck (using my wife's personal food rating scale). I wasn't prepared for what I was biting into. I did manage to eat it all, and the more I ate...the better it became. A good palette cleanser if nothing else. Fun for Sublime Doughnuts! This unique doughnut hole (haha) is a must-do for any trip we make to Atlanta. No matter what creative flavor you try...they are just so darn good.

 

The rundown:
What we did: Checked out the Atlanta Food Truck Park and Sublime Doughnuts Where we did it: Atlanta, GA
How far away it was: 2.5 hours from home
How much it cost: Food Truck park: $2.75 - $7.50, Sublime: a little pricey...almost 20 dollars/dozen
How we saved dollars: We shared meals at the food truck park :)
Would we do it again: Yes