Review of Capital Empanadas

On Saturday, I was able to attend the Courthouse farmer’s market for the first time in a couple of months. That meant I was finally able to try a relatively new food cart: Capital Empanadas. The cart appears at the farmer’s market every Saturday, and circulates between Courthouse, Clarendon, Ballston, and Crystal City during the week. My girlfriend and I shared three empanadas: meat, chicken, and Nutella.

Food: The chicken empanada was my favorite—it had robust flavor and just enough heat to keep things interesting. The meat (ground beef) empanada was one-note and a bit bland; disappointing next to the robustness of the chicken. As for the Nutella, as my girlfriend said today: how can you really go wrong with fried dough and Nutella? Each savory empanada is served with a container of onion and cilantro salsa, and they offer a variety of hot sauces if you want an additional kick. There’s some greasiness to contend with because all of the empanadas are fried to order, but I was generally pleased.

We also enjoyed the salty (but not too salty) plantain chips and a Colombiana soda, which is like a slightly sweeter, slightly less-bubbly Fresca. They also stock Inca Kola (which I love) and another South American soda I plan to try next time.

Service: There was no line when I arrived, so it’s hard to judge how they would perform with a lunchtime crowd, but the empanadas were quickly delivered hot and crispy. The man taking orders outside of the cart was also very personable, which made for an even better experience.

Value: The combo with three empanadas, chips, and drink cost $10. I was a little nervous that it would be insufficient to feed two people for lunch, but we were both surprised to find that our Capital Empanadas adventure completely filled us up. Feeding two people for $10 is good enough for me.

Overall: This cart is a great addition to Arlington’s growing street food scene. I definitely enjoyed myself and left satisfied.

Addendum: I hope people don’t get their knickers in a twist over another Virginia-based food cart named for DC (a complaint commonly lodged against District Taco). New food carts can’t move into DC due to current restrictions on the number of carts operating in the city, so Capital Empanadas, District Taco, and any other Virginia/Maryland carts need a change in those restrictions before they can even consider operating in DC.

Useful Information:
- Cash only
- $3 for one empanada, $5 for two, $7 for three
- $2 for chips
- $1.50 for drinks
- $8 for two empanadas combo, $10 for three empanadas combo 

Capital Empanadas on Facebook
Capital Empanadas on Twitter 

Review of Basil Thyme

Image courtesy Washington City Paper

I’ve been looking for a chance to visit Basil Thyme since I received an invitation to their June 13th soft opening. I finally got the chance on Friday, and the wait was almost worth it. At the suggestion of Brian, who works the truck’s window, I tried the Pasquale lasagna, which includes salami, pancetta, pepperoni, and prosciutto.

Food: I honestly had no idea what to expect when I opened my lunch; I’ve never ordered pasta from a truck, but I was pleasantly surprised. I received a well-constructed, significant portion of lasagna paired with a mixed greens salad. The Pasquale lasagna was very good, with a great depth of flavor and a pleasant lingering heat. The salad, which includes kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, and shaved parmesan, was a refreshing counterpoint—it provides a necessary balance to the meatiness of the lasagna. I was less impressed, unfortunately, by the chocolate-orange cannoli. I’m not entirely sure what went wrong, but perhaps the balance between chocolate and orange was slightly off. Overall, though, I was pleased with Basil Thyme’s food.

Service: I was very impressed by how quickly the food came out of the window; the Basil Thyme crew is clearly intent on making things fast. I sometimes worry that food delivered so quickly is being served lukewarm, but I was pleasantly surprised to find my food still warm when I got back to the office. Brian ran the window efficiently and with a friendly manner.

Value: This is tough: my lunch special, including lasagna, dessert, and drink, cost $10. I’m not excited about spending $10 on lunch, but certainly prefer Basil Thyme to similarly-priced options near my office.

Overall: For a truck with less than a month of service under their belts, I was impressed by Basil Thyme. It has good food and good service at a decent price. The only problem was that I wanted a nap after so much lasagna!

Useful Information:
-Cash only
-$9 for pasta or lasagna
-$3 for dessert
-$1 for drinks (Coke products)
-$10 for combo with pasta/lasagna, dessert, and drink

Basil Thyme on Facebook
Basil Thyme on Twitter 

Review of Meathead Mobile Eatery

It seemed that many people decided lunch from a food truck was the perfect way to celebrate Friday’s beautiful weather: Farragut Friday was packed! With at least six trucks in attendance, though, the crowds had plenty of options.

I decided to try one of DC’s newest trucks: Meathead Mobile Eatery. Meathead is from the same folks as Eat Sauca, and premiered just two weeks ago with a difficult Farragut Friday. This Friday, I ordered the Moo-Moo, which is “rib-eye steak topped with caramelized onions, triple cheese sauce, mustard seed ketchup, tomato, and pickles.”

Food: My sandwich had pretty good flavor, but it suffered from poor execution. I especially liked the mustard seed ketchup, but there was barely any of it. The meat was mostly good, but I found two large pieces of inedible gristle. The tomato offered some brightness, but too much tomato juice made the hoagie roll too soggy. The cheese wasn’t really a sauce, and was instead just a thick glop in the middle of my sandwich. Unfortunately, there were just too many drawbacks that held back my Meathead lunch.

Service: As I mentioned, Farragut Friday was packed. I waited about five minutes for the five people in front of me to order, and another twenty minutes for the twenty orders before mine to come out. I was impressed by the guy taking orders and service seemed pretty efficient overall, so it would be harsh to fault them for the wait.

Value: $8 was fair for a good-sized sandwich, though the poor execution obviously diminished the value.

Overall: Meathead has the potential to be very good, but let themselves down by failing at a lot of little things. As an interesting aside, I was amused that the truck’s customers were overwhelmingly male.

Useful Information:
- Credit cards accepted
- $7 to $9 for sandwiches
- $2 for chips
- $2 for drinks

Meathead Mobile Eatery on Facebook
Meathead Mobile Eatery on Twitter

Coming Soon: More New Trucks

As all of us in DC hope for warmer weather, we can also look forward to new food trucks! I’ve counted at least eleven new trucks, bringing more options and wider variety to DC area streets. Amazingly, that doesn’t even include the trucks we’re still waiting for (like People’s Bao and Sabor’a Street) or the trucks taking a winter break. Overall, it seems like we’re going to have some great mobile food options in 2011.

Three new trucks have already launched:

Meathead Mobile Eatery
- Meat sandwiches, from the creator of Eat Sauca
- Twitter

Pi Truck
- Deep-dish cornmeal-crust pizza, from the same folks as the new District of Pi Restaurant in Penn Quarter
- Twitter 

PORC (Purveyors of Rolling Cuisine) Mobile
- BBQ, sausages, seasonal vegetarian specialties
- Twitter

There are also at least eight more trucks on their way, bringing several new types of food and some more cupcakes:

Austin Grill
- A mobile offering from the regional Tex-Mex restaurant, and they’ve already mentioned that they plan to launch a second truck
- Twitter 

BBQ Bus
- BBQ (of course)
- Twitter

Cupcake Buggy
- Cupcakes, so it will be interesting to see how they differentiate from the cupcake trucks already on DC streets
- Twitter

Eat Stix
- Grilled meats, vegetables, and fruits, and cake balls
- Twitter 

Hotties Truck
- Burgers, chili dogs, and seasoned fries
- Twitter

Rolling wit Burgers
- Burgers (duh) and fries
- Twitter

The Ficelle
- Sandwiches on fresh Lyon Bakery bread
- Twitter

Top Dog Truck
- Regional and innovative takes on the classic hot dog in Northern Virginia
- Twitter

Review of TaKorean

I love tacos. I really love tacos. So I was excited to finally try TaKorean, which offers Korean BBQ Tacos, especially after my Curbside Cook-Off disappointment. I tried one of each taco option: bulgogi beef, tangy chicken, and caramelized tofu. Each taco came with the works: sriracha sauce (always wonderful), lime crema, cilantro, and sesame sauce.

Food: Overall, this was delicious. The beef and chicken were both tender and flavorful, though the beef was my favorite. I’m not a tofu person (it’s a texture thing), but it too had good flavor. I especially enjoyed the spicy kimchi slaw, but also liked the napa-romaine slaw. The works added even more good flavor, making these tacos really well-rounded. My only complaint was that the lime crema seemed to disappear in the symphony of flavors on each taco, though I probably would miss it if it wasn’t there.

Service: These guys clearly have service down to a science. The food came out really quickly; I waited about ten minutes even though there were at least 25 people in line in front of me. It’s also always nice when there’s a really friendly person in the window.

Value: I was a little concerned by the price of $8 for three tacos, especially compared to local taqueria prices, but was pleasantly surprised to find that I was satiated until dinner. It may cost a little more than ideal, but it was worth it.

Overall: TaKorean may have just become my favorite food truck in DC. There’s still some competition for that crown, but this was really good.

Useful Information:
- Cash only
- $3 for one taco, $8 for three
- $2 for Jarritos, $1 for water
- 1% of all sales given to local charities

TaKorean on Facebook
TaKorean on Twitter

Sabor’a Street Launches Next Week

In September, I mentioned that Sabor’a Street, offering Latin-inspired street food, would be coming to DC streets. It looks like Sabor’a Street will finally arrive, perhaps as early as next week, DCist reports.

Image courtesy DCist

DCist reports that Sabor’a Street will offer fritas, ”beef sliders with chorizo and Manchego cheese, topped with fried fingerling potatoes and a chipotle-guava sauce on brioche,” which you can order with a fried egg on top. The truck will also have arepas, “cornmeal cakes with a choice of adobo-marinated skirt steak, adobo-marinated pulled chicken or chili-glazed tofu,” as seen above, “fried yucca and fried plantains with mojo, chimichurri, salsa verde (avocado and tomatillo), or roja (guajillo chili) dipping options,” and churros with dulce de leche.

Food Truck Fiesta has more information on the prices at Sabor’a Street: $8 for fritas, $8 for arepas, and $6 for pinchos (brisket skewers). They also report that the fried yucca and fried plantains will be served as a side with any entree.

Sabor’a Street on Facebook
Sabor’a Street on Twitter

DC Empanadas Launch Date: January 3

In response to a question from The Big Cheese, DC Empanadas tweeted that their truck is ready to go, but they’re holding off on their launch due to the mass exodus from DC during the holiday season:

since the next two weeks are pretty dead in DC we decided to launch on January 3 when everyone is back in town!

I’m very much looking forward to their arrival on DC streets.

Sauca Wins Emerging Franchise Challenge

Sauca recently tweeted to me that they had big expansion plans, but it seems their plans might be even bigger than I expected.

The business was just announced as the 2010 Emerging Franchise Champion from the Great Emerging Franchise Challenge. That announcement notes that Sauca have big plans to expand nationally in 2011. As challenge winners, the owners received $50,000 to advance their business. Could we soon see Sauca food trucks in other cities?

Read more about Sauca’s win on Small Business Trends.

**UPDATE**
On their website, Sauca now list a third truck, Marco Polo, in addition to their current Pangea and Saucalito trucks. I assume this truck will be operating in DC.

Sauca on Facebook
Sauca on Twitter

Big Cheese Starts Tomorrow

After a soft launch in Crystal City last Monday, the Big Cheese has been quietly operating in Arlington this week. Now it will be officially launching for lunch in DC tomorrow.

Since the truck is licensed in both Virginia and DC, I expect a lot of lunchtime competition for the truck’s offerings of grilled cheese and soup.

**UPDATE**
The first DC lunchtime spot for the Big Cheese will be L’Enfant Plaza. 

Big Cheese on Twitter
Big Cheese on Facebook 

Image courtesy Big Cheese

Goodbye Rebel Heroes, Hello Big Cheese

Yesterday, I was confused when I saw the new Big Cheese truck parked where I had previously seen the Rebel Heroes truck parked. Today, Tim Carman of the Washington Post explained why: Rebel Heroes has ceased operations and sold their vehicle to the Big Cheese.

On Oct 8, the Rebel Heroes food truck sent a message to its 2,700-plus followers on Twitter, encouraging them to arrive early at the corner of North Moore Street and Wilson Boulevard in Rosslyn. “Last chance of the season!” the Tweet warned.

The announcement proved to be something of an understatement.

That same day, the owners informed Arlington County that they were ceasing operations. Nearly a month later, on Nov. 10, they would sell their vehicle to Patrick Rathbone, a veteran restaurant manager who will officially bury the memory of Rebel Heroes next week when he rolls out his new truck, The Big Cheese.

I’m disappointed because I was never able to try Rebel Heroes, but look forward to trying the Big Cheese’s grilled cheese and tomato soup offerings.

Interestingly, this marks the first time a DC food truck has gone out of business. With the threat of more regulation and increasing competition in an already difficult industry, will more food trucks meet the same fate?