Cape Cod Fast Becoming Food Truck Mecca

CCB MEDIA PHOTO The Sunbird food truck on Route 6 in Wellfleet has become a popular dining location.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO
The Sunbird food truck on Route 6 in Wellfleet has become a popular dining location.

FALMOUTH – There was a time in the distant past when getting lunch from a food truck meant a soggy burger or generic hot dog. No longer.

Foodies have wrested hold of the food truck concept and turned it into an opportunity for creativity, style, healthy and even gourmet fare.

And a number of food trucks are parked on Cape Cod in the summer and fall, offering a wide range of unique and delectable cuisine.

The Outer Cape in particular offers somewhat of a food truck district, where there are several popular trucks within 10 miles in Wellfleet and Truro. Down in Mashpee, they are holding Food Truck Fridays at the Community Park.

And the biggest ever Cape Cod Food Truck Festival is being held this year on Saturday, August 29, at Cape Cod Fairgrounds in Falmouth.

Janet Prensky, spokeswoman for Food Truck Festivals of America, which is producing the festival, said this year’s Cape Cod event will be the largest festival they have held out of about 40 festivals over the past three years.

Twenty-five food trucks are coming to the Cape Cod Fairgrounds in East Falmouth for the festival, including several from Cape Cod.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO Eric Jansen is the executive chef at Crush Pad at Truro Vineyards off Route 6 in Truro.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Eric Jansen is the executive chef at Crush Pad at Truro Vineyards off Route 6 in Truro.

Prensky, who lives in Wellfleet, said she too has noticed the relatively large number of food trucks on the Cape, particularly in Wellfleet. “For Wellfleet not being a huge town, we have three or four trucks,” she said.

She calls the growth in food trucks, “an explosion” and, by example, she cites when her company first started three years ago and they were looking for food trucks in New England. They found eight. This year, they have a list of 500.

On Cape Cod alone, for the first year of the Cape Cod Food Truck Festival three years ago, they found one food truck based on the Cape. This year, they have five on their list.

As to the reason for the popularity of food trucks, Prensky cites a variety of factors.

“People love it. It’s a casual way of dining,” she said.

Prensky also mentioned the fact that, at a food truck, patrons get to meet the chef, “as opposed to a restaurant where you don’t always see the chef.”

What also draws customers, Prensky said, it how good the food is.

“People are always surprised at the quality,” she said, adding that customers should be aware that food truck food is not necessarily “fast” food, because it is usually cooked to order.

At the Cape Cod Food Truck Festival, there will be vendors selling Kobe burgers and truffle fries, deluxe homemade waffles and vegetarian and vegan fare. “It really runs the gamut,” Prensky said.

Among the Cape Cod food trucks at the festival will be Cape Cod Cannolis, which features, as the truck notes, “one hundred plus flavors of Cape Cod and New England.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO Cape Cod Cannolis is one of the food trucks at Food Truck Fridays in Mashpee.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Cape Cod Cannolis is one of the food trucks at Food Truck Fridays in Mashpee.

Lili Ferreira started the truck after having a bakery for about 10 years. As her husband Frank tells it, she made a batch of flavored cannolis and “they took off.” She decided to focus just on those.

Lili takes her flavor inspirations from everywhere and anywhere, according to Frank. One day he was eating a ginger snap cookie and soon after, ginger snap cannolis were born.

But despite all the flavors, Frank said the most popular remains plain—the traditional flavor—and also, anything with chocolate. His personal favorite, he said, is cappuccino.

Cape Cod Cannolis this summer is one of a half dozen trucks and carts that set up at lunchtime on Fridays in the newly redesigned Community Park in Mashpee.

Food Truck Fridays has been attracting families, vacationers and office workers from town hall across the street.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO Yellow Submarine is a food truck at Food Truck Fridays in Mashpee.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Yellow Submarine is a food truck at Food Truck Fridays in Mashpee.

On a recent Food Truck Friday, lines were forming for Yellow Submarine, a food truck owned by Julia Wild and Tim Callahan. Kyle Seibert, who was manning the truck, said, Yellow Submarine stands apart with its popular submarine sandwiches—sausage, pepper and onion is a favorite—as well as vegetarian and even vegan offerings.

Out in Wellfleet, lunch lines also form early for Sunbird, the food truck that could be said to have started what some see as the Outer Cape food truck district.

Sunbird is located on Route 6 in Wellfleet, a colorful truck with nearby round picnic tables topped by straw umbrellas—it’s a tropical-themed set up.

The truck has been so successful that the owners, J’aime and Christian Sparrow, who met and fell in love on the Cape, have started a brick and mortar year-round location in Orleans, according to Geoff Boehme, who was working in the truck on a recent day.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO Sunbird food truck can be found along the highway on Route 6.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Sunbird food truck can be found along the highway on Route 6.

Boehme is also kitchen manager for the Sunbird cafe, but he said he enjoys his shifts in the truck.

He can be seen through the truck’s window, moving easily in the tight confines, grilling one minute and doing prep work the next.

He shrugged off what looks a challenging situation of cooking in a small space.

“I think it’s great working in the truck. It’s like a vacation from reality. It’s like my third day off. It’s such a good vibe,” he said.

Sunbird specializes in local, sustainable food, prepared from scratch. Fish tacos are popular, as is the porchetta sandwich, an herb-rubbed, slow-roasted pork shoulder with house-pickled onions, citrus mayo, organic greens on Pain d’Avignon ciabatta.

Sunbird is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO Crush Pad food truck at the Truro Vineyards winery in Truro.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Crush Pad food truck at the Truro Vineyards winery in Truro.

The next town over in Truro, at the Truro Vineyards winery is Crush Pad, a hidden gem of gourmet offerings off-the-beaten-track.

Executive Chef Eric Jansen calls the bill of fare “refined street food.”

As for the challenges of cooking gourmet food in a small space, he said, “The kitchen’s nicer than a lot of kitchens I’ve been in. The only challenge is space and storage. I call it ‘mini-catering’ every day,” he said.

Crush Pad is a more casual outpost by the owners of Blackfish Restaurant in Truro, as well as Local 186 and Bubala’s in Provincetown.

Crush Pad set up three years ago because Truro Vineyards was interested in having some food on site so that people could have something to eat while tasting wine.

It attracts a busy lunch crowd for upscale offerings like Kobe burgers and fish sandwiches with remoulade sauce. The lobster roll, served on a brioche, regularly sells out, Jansen said.

A clue to the foodie clientele that patronize Crush Pad might be that one of the most popular items is their special fried cauliflower dish—the secret is the capers, lemon and Parmesan.

Crush Pad is open Monday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO Rough House Food Truck is located at Chequessett Chocolate in North Truro.

CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Rough House Food Truck is located at Chequessett Chocolate in North Truro.

Just down the road, Rough House Food Truck is a new enterprise this year owned and run by brother and sister Bessie and Raffi Bianco. It is parked in front of Chequessett Chocolate in North Truro.

This is their fourth year with the truck and first year on Cape serving, as Bessie put it, “all around gourmet American food.” The two started in Connecticut where their mother ran a Mexican restaurant for 30 years.

They started the truck when each found they were dissatisfied with their day jobs. It was Raffie’s idea to throw caution to the wind and invest in a food business. They started with a cart and moved up to a truck three years ago.

The most popular meal of the day at Rough House is the breakfast, with a specialty being avocado toast, a dish that Bessie said she eats daily and Raffie suggested they put on the menu.

Besides the two named ingredients, it has cheddar, tomato and sriracha, which is a Thai hot dipping sauce, plus a fried egg or smoked salmon as optional add ons.

Another favorite is the dirty bird, which is a grilled chicken sandwich with cheddar, bacon, sriracha and mayo.

Raffie says that it is no coincidence that a number of the Rough House offerings include bacon. “Anything with bacon complements chocolate for sure,” he said.

Rough House is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

These are just a sample of the food trucks that can be found on the Cape this summer. To sample a wide range of trucks, the place to go is the Cape Cod Food Truck Festival.

Besides more than two dozen food trucks, the Cape Cod Food Truck Festival will also feature an Etsy Market of arts and crafts, a Samuel Adams Beer Tent and live music. A special VIP pass for $20 gets patron in early from 11 a.m. to noon, before the lines form. The general admission ticket costs $5 and children 12 and under are free.  General admission does not include food or drink, which much be purchased separately.

By LAURA M. RECKFORD, CapeCod.com NewsCenter

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