“This’ll show Trader Joe’s,” said Annalise Pask only half-joking as she glanced around at the big crowds enjoying the food trucks and live music at the Lake Highlands Town Center site Saturday night. She was, of course, referring to the popular grocer’s decision to pass on installing a new store at Prescott’s development in the heart of Lake Highlands, despite petition signatures and hearty pleas of invitation.
By all measures the LH StreEATS food truck rally was an overwhelming success, unless you showed up hungry and needed to eat right quick. Lines for food were at least 30 minutes long, and many folks waited up to an hour. Since it seemed the entire neighborhood showed up, most simply chatted with friends or made new ones to pass the time.
You can see my photo slideshow here.
Everyone I spoke to agreed that, if and when the LH Branding Committee hosts this event again, they should have more food trucks to handle the hordes. And all said they’ll happily return.
“I came looking for something weird,” said Truitt Matthews, excited to sample the unique menu items food trucks have to offer.
“Something different is worth the wait,” agreed his son, Wil, home from college at Texas A&M. Neither had experienced food truck fare before.
Jaime Huffman showed up to help overwhelmed friends run the Cajun Tailgaters truck. “As an owner, I would be ecstatic at this turnout,” she told me, pleased for her friends but unable to hide a tinge of personal disappointment. Her food truck venture, Rollin’ Diner, gets permitted today. They’ll have comfort foods like Sloppy Joe’s, homemade soup and chicken-n-dumplings.
“This will make people really notice the area,” added Jason Key, Cajun Tailgaters’ owner. Then he brought me a Pistolette (creamy crawfish sauce deep-fried in a French roll), and I don’t remember anything he said after that. (Dude, best thing I ever put in my mouth.)
Food Truck Chuck, aka Chuck Briant, aka real estate broker and food truck enthusiast, enjoyed our rally after visiting 24 previous food trucks that day. He said declaring a favorite would be like saying which child he liked best.
Chuck estimated a total of 2000 people were served during our 3 hour rally, but if you add the ones who showed up, visited with friends, then gave up on the lines and headed for nearby restaurants, I’d say it was more like 2500.
