Chicago Food Truck Extravaganza

Some of Chicago’s most impressive food trucks gathered this past weekend to participate in the Truckin’ Around Food Truck Extravaganza in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, which is located northeast of the Windy City. 18 of some of the most popular food trucks in the Chicagoland area were parked at Boomer Stadium – home to the Schaumburg Boomers, a professional minor league baseball team – ready to serve up grilled cheese sandwiches, empanadas, pierogis, cupcakes and so much more.

Food trucks in attendance included Bridgeport Pasty, Jerk, The Slide Ride, Yum Dum Truck and Jack’s Fork in The Road. Piko Street Kitchen, another favorite at the festival, served up pork belly and lemongrass tacos, while Chicago Pizza Boss served the highly recommended Margherita Pizza with fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and a sweet tomato sauce. The average price of a dish was $10 and the portions were far from small.

Chicago Pizza Boss- Margherita Pizza

The festival started at 11a.m. and ran until 7p.m., which gave food fans enough time to swing by some of their favorite trucks to taste savory dishes. Given the successful social media campaign to get people to the Truckin’ Around Food Truck Extravaganza, the festival was packed, so the lines to try the food were long, but well worth the wait.

I had a chance to speak with some festival-goers and during my conversations, I observed that there was a strategy to getting the most out of this appetizing event. So what exactly was the best way to tackle this eight hour food party? Strength in numbers. So if four people came to the event together, each of them would wait in separate lines to get a dish before the food ran out.

“Even though the lines were long, the food was worth the wait for every truck I went to,” said Elizabeth Eck, 20, Chicago, who visited Donermen, Haute Sausage and Pierogi Wagon.

Alongside the good food, this premiere food truck party had a beer tent, live entertainment and cooking demonstrations from Chef Paul Guerrero of Cooking Skills Academy and much more.

Chicago-truckin-around-fest

Location of the event was key! There was plenty of free parking and entrance into the festival was free as well! Imagine stuffing your face with brats, jerk chicken and Philly cheesesteaks and all your buddy has to do is roll you half a block down the parking lot back to your car.

This festival, which is also pet-friendly, isn’t just a one-day event. Boomers Stadium will host the Truckin’ Around Food Truck Extravaganza every third Saturday of every month until September – come rain or shine.

For a full list of trucks that are scheduled to attend the festival as well as festival dates, please visit http://www.truckinaroundfoodfest.com.

– Chicago Area Guest Contributor, Dana Lee