Eastern Market Michigan Food Truck Meetup – Detroit
This is your typical view at Eastern Market in Detroit. Rows of veggies & produce. Nice ladies smiling at you from behind jars of blueberry jam, and cute old men holding bouquets of swiss chard with scarlet stems. Not this past Tuesday. No, this Tuesday was a huge leap forward in the Michigan culinary scene. It was the first mobile Food Truck Meetup, where Michigan Food Trucks gathered from different cities, and crowds lined up to taste what they offered. And let me tell you, there was a crowd, and boy oh boy was everyone hungry! By the end of the evening ( a four hour period), all the trucks were sold out of almost everything, if not every grain of rice, and sliver of potato.
It was really hard to miss the El Guapo Grill Truck. Which I believe means “handsome one” or something along those lines. This truck is designed to stand out with its charcoal grey exterior and cute, taco holding, sombrero wearing, mustache sporting man. I was excited to try their food. Having followed them on twitter I was excited for their fish tacos. Sadly they were all out by the time I got to the front of a very, and I mean very long line.
Owner Douglas Runyon was on hand, and was quite charming and funny once you got to the orders window. You could tell he was loving the energy. He was calm amid the seeming chaos. He totally emitted that George Lopez “I got this!” feel.
Unfortunately, they were out of a few things I wanted to try from their menu, but I was starving and went for the veggie tacos with the Guappo sauce, which btw, is AH-mazing! I would buy that stuff any day. Creamy, smokey, and spicy sauce. Yum! I would definitely use this on a romantic night with the hubby. It is that sexy.
I also got some rice and beans. They were ok. I expected there to be some twist or special flavor to the beans, but no, they were your typical beans. I should have added some Guapo sauce to them! lol.
Next to them, was San Street from Ann Arbor, where you can usually find them at Marks Carts. Asian street food in the streets of Detroit.
Steamed buns house spicy tofu, pork belly, and home pickled veggies.
I didn’t have a chance to sample their food, but everyone seemed to be enjoying it.
So, take a wood trailer, add some “Ballin’ Ass Tacos” (I kid you not) to the menu, and you have Trailer Park’d. They do “slow fast food”.
The Rabbit-wich looked good, but they sold out of it very early.
Next up, was Concrete Cuisine. I had heard of their “Frickles” – deep fried pickles, but somehow their potatoe sides won me over. Maybe its my carb addiction. Don’t judge. I self medicate 
I went for The Majic off the menu. It is stuffed portabellos. It was fantastic. The breading was surprisingly light, thin and crispy. Oozy warm cheese, and tart sweet balsamic to cut through the richness. My one qualm was that I thought it was going to be a sandwich, since it was under that section, but it was not. I was expecting something more substantial.
These “Sweeties” – sweet potato fries in cinnamon sugar, were different and amazing. Part dessert, part fries, part heaven, I could eat these any day.
The wedges were everything a wedge aspires to be, if a wedge had dreams that is.
Then there was the People’s Pierogi Collective.
They quickly browned those bite sized nuggets of goodness of potatoes & cheese, and cherry.
Off to the side, was the cutest red cart I had ever seen! What is it you ask? Well, a normal staple at Eastern Market, Urban Grounds serving up great specialty coffee for you caffeine addicts out there, or should I just say me?
Good Girls Go to Paris was cooking up a storm of Crepes. Its a messy business this Crepe thing. Merde! I dropped a Crepe. I’m so corny.
For dessert I had the the most earthquake inducing, tongue tantalizing Ice Cream. Thank you Treat Dreams. Your salted caramel ice cream made my day. No, it made my week and my knees weak. That flavor was made just for me. Can you change the name to Mira dipped in Caramel? Yeah, you didn’t need that visual. Sorry. Oh, don’t walk, RUN over there and try this. Your welcome.
It was a really great night, with lots of people, great beats and en electric energy that can only be found in Detroit.
By the end of the evening, it was packed, shoulder to shoulder and I bumped into many of my twitter friends. It was very fun, and I was so glad I decided to ignore the rain and make it down. Hopefully there will be many more of these to come.
One thing was clear that night: Detroiter’s sure are hungry, and we will be coming back for more!
Were you there? What was your favorite truck or thing you ate?
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