A Taste of Three Cities

This year was the third year for The Gathering's Taste of of Three Cities - a food truck meet up with trucks from Baltimore, DC and Philly.  And I just have to say, it was their best year yet!  They finally nailed the perfect location - Patterson Park.  For the last few years, they've had it in a huge open area, on black top with zero shade and no place to sit or eat.  And of course, it's always HOT.  However this year, they held the event in a park with loads of trees and allowed you to bring in chairs to get comfy in the grass in the shade.  It was fabulous!  

As for the food, it's always delicious!  There's just so much to choose from.  You can find pretty much everything you want, and then some - and I most definitely did!  The only complaint I had, and it's the same complaint I have every year, is the lack of "tasting" menus.  The event draws something like 60 trucks, and every truck is serving full portions of all of their items.  The problem with this is, you get stuffed after only a handful of trucks.  If they really wanted you to try everything, they'd start serving miniature sized versions of their items.  They'd still be making money because I guarantee more people would buy at a lower price point and everyone would get to taste test everything!  Emporiyum wizened up to this fact this year.  Hopefully, the Gathering will catch on soon.  

Even without the tasting portions, I was able to try a bunch.  If you ever plan to go, here's your plan of attack.  Take a friend with you that loves to eat just as much as you do, then share everything you purchase.  If you're sharing, you can try twice as many trucks : )

First up was the Arancini from Di Pinoteca - The Best thing I ate all day!  It was ginormous and delicious!

Cheese Curds were up next from The Cow and the Curd - I'd had these last year and they were so good I've been dreaming about them ever since.  Unfortunately, they weren't as fabulous this time around.  Don't get me wrong, they were good, but they were also super greasy.

Then on to Cuban Mac and Cheese from a truck that only sold Mac and Cheese (Sorry, I can't seem to find the name right now).  This was our least fave of the day.  It was just too much everything and seeing as the box it came in weighed about 3 pounds, we were never going to be able to finish it.  It sounded like it would be delicious with pulled pork, and cheese and mustard, but the mustard I thought would be mixed in was actually slathered all over the top of the concoction - yuck!

For the last savory meal of the day, we had tacos from DC Tacos.  I read the list and most of the tacos seemed to have things I didn't like on them, but I chose to ignore and just try a steak taco instead.  And honestly, it was delicious!  The meat was perfectly cooked and while I'm not exactly sure what all was on top of the steak, it all tasted pretty good together!

Alas, it was time for dessert.  When attending the food truck gatherings, the Cheesecake Truck is always, always a must.  Who can resist chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick? Sadly they weren't offering my fave banana this year, but the Cookies and Cream cheesecake certainly made up for it.

Last but not least, was an Elvis cupcake from Iced Gems - another must and my personal fave of all the cupcake trucks.  They have about 40 different flavors to try and they're always yummy!

PS: Please excuse the lack of pictures - apparently my photography skills go down, while the food intake increases.  Basically when I eat I take terrible photos...