10.12 - The Trucks are Rolling In

I love New York for its food-- especially for its mobile food. I mean, some of the tastiest (and cheapest) food I've ever had there have come from a truck. But I always thought the truck thing was a NY thing . . . until trucks started popping up in LA and Atlanta. And, honestly, I've become really envious of LA because some of their trucks sound amazing.

This is just a sampling:
- Korean/Mexican fusion taco truck
- shaved ice truck
- grilled cheese truck
- Indian food truck
- sushi truck
- Philly food truck
- Filipino food truck
- crepe truck
- chicken and waffles truck
- dumpling truck
- Greek food truck
- smoked bbq truck
- and the list goes on and on . . .

Sadly, Chicago has been very slow at getting into the truck scene because our laws aren't as easy to work around as other cities' laws. As of right now, if you want to serve food from a truck, it has to be pre-made and pre-packaged (such as the Flirty Cupcake truck). But, honestly, cupcakes are just not going to cut it.

Fortunately, there are a whole bunch of Chicago restauranteurs and foodies alike who are demanding a change. Several restaurants already have food truck plans in the works and are just anxiously awaiting the city ordinance that permits trucks with onboard cooking equipment.

My belly, too, is anxiously awaiting. :}

10.07 - Cookie Radar!

It's so bad, but we have this really good bakery/cafe just around the corner from work . . . and I just found out they actually have a cookie radar on their website.  Oh my, what a magnificent idea! You can either check the site or sign up for alerts to find out when your favorite variety (or all of them really) have just come out of the oven.

So, at this moment, I'm waiting for the semi-sweet chocolate chip cookie alert. Their last batch came out a little less than an hour ago-- but I'm sorry, I would like mine fresh out of the oven, please. Haha. Mmm . . . coooookies.

Eatery Info: Specialty's Cafe & Bakery, 191 N Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60606

10.05 - For (Excessive) Love of BBQ

I attended a work conference last week in Kansas City, and the first thing I did upon my arrival was get burnt ends and ribs at my favorite KC barbecue place. I guess I could've attended some of the conference sessions to feed my brain . . . but, honestly, I really just wanted to feed my belly. I mean, the last time I had been in KCity was nearly four years ago, and that magnificent barbecue had been on my mind since then. Needless to say, it was a wonderful meal. And I went back to the hotel a very happy woman.

. . . until I ran into my boss and he asked me if I had attended any sessions. *sigh*

I sheepishly told him that I had not . . . and that I had been busy doing something else, desperately hoping he wouldn't smell the strong scent of hickory wood all over me. He didn't seem at all happy, but oh well. If that wasn't bad enough, the boss ended up wanting me to have dinner with him and some other colleagues at the same exact place. :\ While I do love my Jack Stack, I just couldn't do two rounds of it within four hours. But I couldn't very well reject my boss's invitation after being such a slacker employee, so I sucked it up and agreed to go along.

As the four of us sat down at a table, Brian (oh, Brian . . . my dear waiter from earlier that day who must have some crazy visual memorization skills because I looked completely different the second time around) took a double take as he passed me, smiled, and said, "Welcome back!" Within seconds, all (wide) eyes were on me, and I very quickly raised the menu to cover my face.

Epic fail. :\