DAY 6: Philadelphia and Baltimore

Day 6: Friday, September 28th, 2012 - Philadelphia and Baltimore

We left the campground in New Jersey mid-morning and made our way towards Philadelphia which was about an hour drive.  I started searching for food trucks on my phone as we got close to the city.  The most helpful website/app I found was called 'ChowGetter' which showed us where several food trucks were parked throughout the city.  There are many cities that use 'ChowGetter' so I highly suggest trying it out!

The closest food trucks to where we were driving into the city were near Temple University.    It only listed 2 trucks there, but they both sounded good (you can click on them to see what they offer) so we decided to go check them out.

'ChowGetter' website/app

It turned out that there were dozens of food trucks parked near the university in addition to the ones on the ChowGetter app.  The only problem was that it was terribly difficult to find parking!  We finally just decided to park in a Loading Zone with our hazards on because we were so hungry that we clearly didn't care about following parking rules.  

Mitch wanted tacos, so he went to Wingo Taco, which was a Korean taco and wing truck.  The staff was so nice and friendly, and they were very enthusiastic about our road trip.

'Wingo Taco' Char-Grilled Korean food truck.

'Wingo Taco' staff - so nice!

Parked at Temple University.

What he ordered:

Spicy Sesame Chicken Taco

Stewed Beef, Potato & Tomatillo Taco

BBQ Beef Taco

Mandarin Jarritos soda

Total: $7.50

Tacos from 'Wingo Taco.'

I walked around for a bit trying to decide what I wanted to eat.  I decided to get a veggie burger from 'Sexy Green Truck' which, according to the website, specialized in local, organic food.  They had a huge menu, so it took me a few minutes for me to decide what to order.

'Sexy Green Truck'

Huge menu.

What I ordered:

Garden Veggie Burger

Total: $4.75

Garden Veggie Burger from 'Sexy Green Truck.'

I also found a cookie truck called 'Insomnia Cookies'...

'Insomnia Cookies' - warm cookies delivered late night!

Cookie menu.

What I ordered:

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

M&M Cookie

Total: $2.50

M&M and Oatmeal Raisin cookies.

After making our way out of Philadelphia (it was 4pm by this time, so it took forever), we started making our way towards Baltimore, MD.  As we got close to Baltimore, I discovered that there was a food truck street festival going on at a place called McHenry Row.  We then realized it was Friday night (we have no sense of what day it is anymore), so this was perfect timing on our end!  The food trucks were going to be parked at McHenry Row from 6-10pm which was awesome for us.  Who knew how easy or hard it would have been to find food trucks on any other night!

We decided to drive through downtown Baltimore since neither of us had been there before.  It was a really cool city, so we were glad we did.  We found the food truck festival pretty easily, but, once again, it was very hard to find parking with a camper.  We decided to park in a loading zone again which no one seemed mind.  People are usually more curious about our camper rather than worrying about it being parked illegally.

There were probably 15 food trucks parked at the festival and there was live music playing.  We walked through the crowd to check all the trucks out before deciding where we wanted to get food from.

Food Truck Festival in Baltimore.

We both decided to get food from a truck called 'Noodlerolla'.  I noticed that we're always drawn to the trucks that are brightly colored and have eye-catching graphics.  I know that this doesn't always mean the food is better, but it can always help.  I will keep this is mind when we have our own truck.  

Another thing I noticed was that many food trucks don't take very much pride in how nice their menu looks.  A lot of them are just scribbled on a chalkboard or white board - a nice looking menu makes such a difference!

'Noodlerolla' food truck.

'Noodlerolla' menu.

What we ordered:

Spicy Fish Tacos

Spicy Bulgogi Burrito (beef, cabbage, potato, cilantro, bean sprouts)

Total: $12.50

Bulgogi Burrito                                              Fish Tacos

We also stopped at 'Iced Gems' to get a cupcake - we couldn't resist!  The guy working in the truck was very nice and we told him all about our food truck road trip.  We asked him what cupcake he recommended and he told us to get 'Italian Wedding.'  It tasted like pecans, pineapple, hazelnut, and amaretto all mixed together, with a delicious buttercream frosting.  

'Iced Gems' cupcake van.

Cupcake menu.

Ordering.

What we ordered:

Italian Wedding Cupcake

Total: $3.00

Enjoying my 'Italian Wedding' cupcake!

We walked around and took pictures of some of the other food trucks - the ones pictured below were our favorites.  It's too bad we couldn't order food from all of them!  

By the time we got back to our Jeep, we decided we didn't want to drive much further that night, so we found a KOA campground just south of Washington, D.C., about an hour and a half south of Baltimore.  Our original plan was to stop in Washington to eat at food trucks, but the further we get into our road trip, the more we are realizing that not every stop on our itinerary is going to work out.  It all depends on what day of the week it is and what time of day it is.

'Gypsy Queen Cafe'

'Chicken n' Waffles' - Mitch regretted not ordering from here!

Tomorrow we are planning to drive into Richmond, VA to see what we can find that's going on during a Saturday afternoon.  It wasn't originally on our list, but I think we will go there instead of Charleston, SC.  Then we will be on our way to Savannah, GA for the night.

Total Spent on Food Trucks:  $30.25 (under budget)

Day 6 Spending:

Gas: $91

Camper World for some plastic wheel chokes (our wood ones were falling apart): $9

Groceries: $48

Food Truck food: $30.25

Campsite $41

Total: $219 (over budget)

XOXO

Mitch and Laurel