There are so many fun food festivals and events out there. It is not easy to attend them all, unless you have all the time and money in the world…and maybe some extra stomach also. We recently attended a really fun food festival in Cape Cod, where they get to taste food offerings from about two dozen food trucks! And what’s more, you get to have the food with some craft beer as well. Awesome! This festival is hosted by the Food Truck Festivals of America, and they have about a dozen of festivals each year (until they expand even more).
I received an invite from one of the event organizers with VIP tickets for the Cape Cod festival, so we got to in one hour before the general entry. The VIP tickets came with the red koozie, unlimited bottled water, and one complimentary dessert. The festival was held at Cape Cod Fairgrounds, very large, open space for the festival. It was still quiet when we arrived before the general admission, so we didn’t have to stand in much line at any food truck. Great!
We first went over to where we could redeem our complimentary dessert. It was redeemable from The Whoo(pie) Wagon truck. We didn’t get to choose which kind, which was a bit sad… We received their Original Whoo(pie) Pie ($3) for free. It was nice and soft, not too large nor too small. The first bite was tasty, but then it got a bit too sweet for me. The other whoopie pie lovers said that the sweetness was just right. Just to note, they also offers Red Velvet, Pumpkin, Chocolate Chip, Ice and Cream whoopie pie, plus few other whoopie pies. The really cool thing was that they also offer “Whoofie Pie” for your dog!
The second truck we visited was Macarollin. We love mac & cheese, especially some fancy kinds! They had Classic Mac, Pulled Pork Mac, and Buffalo Chicken Mac, which all sounded good, but we went for Lobster Mac ($15). It is made with fresh Maine knuckle and claw meat, sherry-shallot gastrique, topped with lemon zested crumbled goat cheese, chives, and toasted breadcrumbs. Look at this beauty!
The lobster mac was soooo good! Big portion, the paper plate was quite heavy! We were sharing among the four of us, and it was enough to feed us all. I loved the crunchy topping, and we found big chunks of lobster meat everywhere. Very generous amount of lobster! The cheese combination was great, very flavorful. We all really enjoyed it!
Next up was Da Bomb Truck. I already liked the name of the truck, and got me extra curious when I saw “The Foodie’s Answer to a Hot Pocket!” They had other offerings like sandwiches and tater tots, but since we wanted to taste different food items as many trucks as possible, we went with just one item. And of course, we had to order one of their “bomb” offerings! We asked which bomb was most popular, and we were told Chili Cheese Burger Bombs ($9). Sound good to me! The bombs are drenched in beef and bacon chili, topped with cheddar and ranch.
It comes in six, each one about the size of gold ball. The way they look reminded me of Takoyaki (octopus ball) from Japan a bit. Instead of octopus, it had a meatball in the inside, juicy and packed with flavor. It was awesome cheesy goodness! They are baked, not fried, so not greasy at all. Pretty darn good comfort food! They also offer vegan bomb, dessert bomb, cheesy tots, and more!
Next one was kind of street fair staple nowadays, Fried Oreo and Fried Twinkie. One of us have never had it, and she was very excited to try them, so we went over to Fried Dough truck. They had six Deep Fried Oreo per order, but we didn’t want that many. So, instead, we got them to exchange three Deep Fried Oreo with one Deep Fried Twinkie (around $6 total).
I’ve had deep fried Oreos several years ago, so it was nothing new to me. But, these ones were not greasy like the ones I’ve had in the past, so it was nice. The dough was light and fluffy, they did pretty good job.
Now, I’ve never had deep fried Twinkie before, so it was a bit more interesting. The dough and the cake part of Twinkie were somewhat similar, and the cream filling isn’t that much. So, it was more like eating a fried cake with just a bit of cream. They were fun items, but not something I need to repeat.
We wanted some kind of seafood item, since we were in Cape Cod. So we went over to Mike’s Clam Jam Truck. We got an order of Fried Clams ($15). The portion was a bit smaller than expected for the price tag. The owner told me that they are good without any kind of sauce, even tartar sauce. So, we tried them without anything. And he was right! It was really good, fresh, crunchy , not fishy at all. It was packed with flavor! It was much better than I expected. You can have these as Fried Clam Roll as well. Speaking of roll, they have lobster roll here, as well as coconut shrimp and truffle fries.
Then, something more solid and meaty. We went over to Roxy’s Grilled Cheese for something cheesy. We chose Rookie Melt ($6), made with plum roasted tomatoes on their 3-cheese melt; cheddar, muenster, and fontina cheese. It was so cheesy! Fresh ripe tomato cuddled in the middle. Simple yet comforting item. Not the best grilled cheese I’ve ever had, but it was still tasty. They also offer ones with bacon & guacamole, bacon & honey, and short rib & onion.
Now, the grilled cheese we had was “solid” but not “meaty.” But at this Food Truck Festival, the options are endless! They had a few BBQ trucks, and we went over to Travelin’ Bones for Brisket Sandwiches ($12).
We cut them into four pieces as we were all sharing, and we each got a nice amount of brisket. The meat was tender and had a nice sweetness to it, with great marinate flavor. It was quite filling. Well, at this point, we were really getting full to the max with everything we consumed so far…
That means, time to take a little break with some craft beers! I don’t know if that was much of real break for our stomach though… They had one large tent in the middle with all the craft beer vendors underneath. The area was fenced off, and you have to have the “over 21” stamp on your hand in order to get inside the fence.
I got Cherry Razz Beer from Brown’s Brewing, since I wanted something fruity. The staff told me that this is not really a “fruity” beer, and she was right. It was an ale with subtle cherry flavor. Interesting amber ale for sure. Another one was Pukwudgie Session IPA from Down The Road Beer Co. This one was really good! Hoppy and easy to go down, we really liked it. They had a really interesting story of mythical creature called Puckwudgie on the back of the can. Really cool!
For cider lovers, they also had a cider vendor too. We got ciders from Citizen Cider. They had Dry-Hopped Cider, and Ginger-Infused Cider. The ginger one had a strong ginger flavor, super refreshing! Yet Not too ginger-y, so good on a nice Summer day.
And you know what goes great with beer? Hot dogs! And yes, there was a food truck specializing in hot dogs! Trolley Dogs offers popular hot dogs from across the country, and serve them on a toasted sub roll. We got the Duchess ($7), 100% beef hot dog with their special caramelized onion. Simple yet great! It was really nice size, the hot dog was juicy and super plump, giving that “crunch!” sound as I took my first bite. Awesome!
At this point, we were pretty much stuffed… But that didn’t stop us from having one last item…dessert! We had our eyes on the Shishkaberry’s Truck for a while… And we were not going to miss out on it, no matter how full we were! LOL. They had ones made with banana, strawberry, and even a frozen cheesecake! We went with Siberian Tiger ($7.45), made with strawberries, coated with milk and white chocolate. They had some made and ready to be handed out already. So, we didn’t have to wait for our order to be made. The strawberries were so ripe and sweet, it was soooooo good!!! A perfect item to end this tasty festival experience.
It was such a fun event, we were all stuffed to the max, happy and satisfied. We discovered so many awesome food trucks, and some cool craft beers too. What a great way to introduce food truck and craft beers to so many people! Bringing so many vendors into one place, giving us the opportunity to try so many of them, such a great idea! About the time we were leaving, it was getting packed, I can totally see the benefit of having VIP tickets and get in one hour before everyone else gets in.
I wish if we could’ve tried food from all the food trucks…but we just didn’t have enough stomach left… Well, the great thing is that we could try them next year! The Food Truck Festivals of America still have a few food truck festivals left this year, so check their website to see if they are going to be near your home. If not, be sure to check out their schedule for next year when it comes out for some tasty fun!
7th Annual Cape Cod Food Truck & Craft Beer Festival – 1220 Nathan Ellis Hwy East Falmouth, MA 02536