What started out as modified delivery trucks, formerly called roach coaches, today’s food trucks do more than provide eaters convenience.
The proprietors of these outfits have elevated the game with boutique food options, wine pairings and truck designs which parallel their more stationary counterparts.
If you’re waiting for the food truck explosion to end so you can finally start to lose a few pounds, you’re gonna need another plan.
Despite a few hiccups in places where brick and mortar restaurants have objected to the mobile food sensation, food trucks are here to stay, at least for now.
To differentiate from the competition, truck operators have to take in the whole experience, from bumper to bumper. The taste and quality of the food are as important as the way one feels when visiting a truck.
Here are five trucks raising the bar even higher.
Del Popolo Pizzeria | San Francisco, CA
There are many pizza trucks, but few cram a real wood-fired oven in the back like Del Popolo in San Francisco. The challenge is space. Wood takes it up fast.
Also, venting is problematic. Without plenty of air or air-conditioning, more than a truck could provide, the pizza chef might cook faster than the pies.
Del Popolo solved this with a sliding side of the truck. What’s great about the design elements are the way they blend rustic with a modified shipping container.
Friethoes | Haarlem, Netherlands
You don’t have to speak the language to know what that icon means. They’re selling French fries in style.
Their old truck looked much like many food trucks, but this one takes a different approach. It feels more like a street side shop, sans the dining room.
You can be sure they serve those fries with mayo, popular on fries everywhere outside the U.S.
Maximus/Minimus – Seattle, WA
This truck is from the set of Mad Max. Kidding. It’s named after a pet name for the owner’s son, but the allusion is not lost on anyone. The site for Maximus-Minimus displays fan art with references to the movie franchise.
Don’t ask about mileage, this custom nose-job is unmistakeable but not aerodynamic.
Maximus-Minimus is where Seattle folks get some of the city’s tastiest pulled pork sandwiches or mac and cheese. They call it max & cheese.
And yes, the snout of the truck intakes air, breathing for the engine if you will.
Burro Cheese Kitchen | Austin, TX
Forget grilled cheese made with sliced cheese. This is boutique chunks of cheese on toasted artisan bread with heaps of sauce to blow your ever-loving mind.
Like the other trucks on this list, it’s not enough that they’re serving food to die for.
The bright yellow container that makes up the body of Burro is so eye-catching you can see it from the international space station with the naked eye, no lie… fine, lie. But, you can still spot this truck from a good distance.
The Rocket Pizza | Phoenix, AZ
The Rocket reminds me of the first truck on this list, but with a more modern feel.
This Phoenix Arizona pizzeria travels with their wood for the oven on the back bumper and accomplishes venting the same way Del Popolo does it. They open up one whole side of the truck.
Thankfully for the two pizzerias, they operate in different cities. There might be a bake-off to end all bake-offs, otherwise.