PARKED! Food Truck Festival
This past weekend I attended the PARKED! Food Truck Festival at South Street Seaport. While I usually avoid the Seaport on weekends (it gets overwhelmingly overrun with crowds), 30+ trucks offering a variety of scrumptious eats was too tempting to pass up.
While I wish I could have sampled all 30 trucks, this was tall feat even for me. So I knew I had to choose judiciously:
There were teriyaki balls:
The Treats Truck was giving out samples of its delectable homemade brownies, mmmmmm:
La Bella Torte offered cake pops and cannolis:
Every little street you turned on to had more and more trucks! Leading the way here was the Frites ‘N’ Meats truck, which serves (you guessed it) burgers and fries. Despite the fact that F’N'M hangs around my neighborhood fairly often, I still haven’t tried them out yet – a travesty!
Hanging around the big tall ship (not its real name) was the beloved Wafels & Dinges truck, which I had previously visited with my friends Laura and Steve (see my 4-apple writeup here):
Hanging out nearby was the Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream Truck, one of my very first reviews! I still think about their Earl Grey flavor sometimes…
And then in the midst of the food truck frenzy, I saw a crustacean-adorned truck calling my name – why it was the Red Hook Lobster Pound truck!
It had been two weeks since my trip to Mystic, CT and Abbott’s (mmmmm, Abbott’s), and I had a hankering for some good lobster.
This baby was in my hot little hands before I could even say “Lobster roll me up!”
The toasted, buttery roll was generously stuffed with tons of claw meat (my absolute favorite part of the lobster), mayo, celery and spices. If the overabundance of lobster meat meant some messy eating, then I’m willing to take one for the team and suffer with the best of ‘em. This delightful bite of heaven was gone way before its time.
I then came across this stand, whose clever and slightly raunchy name, I admit, made me giggle:
Mighty Balls! Heeeheehahaha. Oh but wait, there’s more. Their slogan is “Not Your Mama’s Balls.” Bwahaha. Ok, they got me. I was tempted. I ordered a savory ball slider, taking the ball lady’s suggestions for both ball type (pork) and sauce (hot jalapeno jelly). The result – meaty, sweet and spicy:
And in slider ready-to-eat style:
After the lobster roll and the slider, it was time for a little breaksky. I meandered down a few more streets:
The Korilla BBQ truck was another that I heard much about. I was going to return later in the day for dinner, but the line at that time was craaaazypants! Cue sad me.
There was the Gorilla Cheese Truck, which specializes in both traditional and specialty grilled cheese sandwiches. I was especially tempted by their “Triple Cream Brie with Prosciutto di Parma & Strawberry Preserves on French Bread”… sandwich. Yet another truck with crazy lines later in the day! I should have noshed when I had the chance!
The fairly new Desi Food Truck brightened up the lineup as well:
Even though it was just past noon (the festival started at 10am), the line for the Kimchi Taco Truck was insane. This truck has gotten a lot of hype, and it seemed well justified. I’m looking forward to giving it a try when it’s in the neighborhood and doing a proper writeup!
At this point, the crowds were really starting to pick up, which is normally my cue to scarf down those last bites of gluttonous goodness and skedaddle. There was one truck that I had to visit though, and that was Coolhaus Ice Cream Sandwiches:
Coolhaus offers seriously mouthwatering ice cream flavors, such as balsamic fig & marscapone, sea salt caramel, carrot cake batter and lychee martini. You can order just a cup, but I needed the Coolhaus sandwich:
That’s right, kiddos – you pick your ice cream, you pick your cookie, and you get an instantly customized ice cream sandwich! After a quick glance at the menu, I knew exactly what I wanted:
I’m pleased to introduce you to my sandwich of brown butter with candied bacon ice cream, in between two potato chip & Skor bar cookies. Seriously AMAZING and the highlight of my PARKED experience! Sweet, salty, creamy and rich, I retreated to the shade (to slow down melting, obvi) to nibble on this sandwich like a lil’ squirrel with a secret stash of acorns. SO good. So good.
My eating buddy of the day opted for an equally cool sweet treat to end our food truck festival extravaganza – Taiwanese shaved ice with all the fixins’.
The PARKED! Food Truck Festival was a truly unique and awesome gathering of the most diverse trucks in the city. I didn’t even get the chance to mention Mexican BBQ at Mexicue, hummus at Taim Falafel, authentic Austrian fare from Schnitzel & Things and the numerous other trucks that parked at the Seaport on Saturday. If they had this event every weekend, I would be ALL over this (there’s a monthly food truck gathering in Brooklyn during the summer months, but I live closer to Seaport and I’m sometimes lazy 
AND the turnout for this event was unreal!). I’m already looking forward to next year’s PARKED! event!
In the meantime, if you’re ever in NYC, be sure to follow my NYC Food Truck List on twitter to get the latest locations and updates from this great city’s food trucks! Happy eating!
What food truck would you like to try?
This event looks awesome! When I saw the title of your blog, I wondered if you would see Korilla BBQ. I’ve been watching the new season of Great Food Truck race on Food Network and they’re one of the teams.
1Yes! They had a sign on their truck saying that they were one of the contenders
2If I was limber enough to kick myself for missing this, I would. I love eating from food trucks and I think I probably would have followed your lead and eaten the same things Meatball slider, lobster roll and crazy-kooky ice cream sandwich sound like a hell of a way to spend a Saturday. I need to pay more attention so I know when events like these are coming!!
3Oh, I wouldn’t even know where to start! I would want to try everything. Those type of gatherings are so dangerous for me, I can never tell myself that I’ve had enough.
4I know, I had a hard time saying “Enough food already” too. That phrase isn’t in my vocabulary
5Yum!! We also had Red Hook Lobster Pound lobsty rolls that day. I would love to try one of the meatball sliders and the Van Leeuwen ice cream which I see all the time!
6Amazing! And hello! Grilled cheese with prosciutto and strawberry preserves? I would wait years in line to get a bite of that! Sounds like you had a delicious and amazing time
7Yummy! My city just got food trucks, there’s about 5 driving around right now. They had a festival at lunch one Thursday to ‘open’ their businesses and ALL the trucks had an hour’s line-up. I gave up that day, and have been enjoying them ‘in the wild’.
8Yes – I just saw your blog post today about Food Trucks! (couldn’t comment for some reason, I think it may be my computer). Super cool
9How fun! You always do such fun things and I need to catch up.
10I love food truck write ups! That lobster roll looks heavenly!!! It’s so interesting to see what you’ve got out there. We have a food truck gathering every Friday in San Francisco at the Fort Mason center. I have yet to go because I hate crowds and waiting for food, but there’s an onigiri truck that I NEED to try… thanks for sharing!
11Over the weekend I have been reading all about the Food Truck Festival through my friends’ Facebook feeds, and while I had been getting that nagging feeling of envy and regret at choosing not to attend, now, after looking at these pictures and reading your writeup, I am DEFINITELY sad at not going! At least I can live vicariously through you, right?
12I’m happy to take one for the team and eat and eat, so you can re-live it through the post!
13What a freaking amazing event! Yum!!!
14Looks like such a fun event! The lobster roll looked so good, and I’d love to try some lychee martini ice cream!
15I’m sorry I missed this! I had other plans that day but my husband and his coworker rode their bikes there and got food from the kimchi taco truck. I definitely want to check out some of these trucks around the city and in my Brooklyn neighborhood. I’ve had the Red Hook lobster pound lobster rolls a few times and they are SO good.
16the lobster roll and the ice cream sandwich look especially yummy. This must be a really spread out event. The food truck festivals in SF always have super long lines per truck.
17I was there too! Too bad we didn’t bump… maybe at another event haha I got there at noon, think I might’ve gotten burnt also -_- Oh you were smart to leave when noon arrived.
18This entire event sounds incredible! I think I’ll have to try to make it up to the city when next year’s rolls around!
19I’m sooooo jealous. I’ve never had food truck food before and you have me obsessed now!
20We went on Saturday too, but the lines were nuts!! We wanted Korilla, but didn’t want to wait. We had the Pirate Juice truck, got some falafel, I went to Frites & Meats (The burger & fries were good, but I couldn’t really tell a huge quality difference with the Wagyu Beef burger) and we got some pickles from a pickle truck! Each line was still pretty crazy, so I didn’t get to try as much as I wanted! Looks like you had a blast though!
21So glad you got to go – too bad we missed each other!!
22Yum! I miss the Van Leeuwen truck! I used to follow them on twitter but had to stop when I moved back to SF. It just made me too sad
23Oh, sad! But you guys have some great food truck options in SF too, right?
24I don’t think I can properly express just HOW disappointed I am that I don’t live in NYC anymore, this looks AMAZING and I’m so jealous I wasn’t there!
25Serena, I know I’ve said this before, but I’m drooling again. It looks like you had a great day of tasting and chowing down. Next year, I’ll have to plan better so I can check this awesomeness out.
26Oh. Wow. There are no words for that gorge-fest on wheels. I might need to plan my next trip to NYC around a food truck festival. It might just have to happen. I totally am with you on crowds, by the way. I hate them and always try to go to festivals and fairs early in the day and get out of there by Noon or 1pm. Big crowds makes people craaazy!
27Wow looks like such an incredible time! My friends wanted to go but we got tied up with other things. Looks like it shouldn’t have been missed
28Lobster rolls and meatballs and ice cream sandwiches? I die.
29Wow! Food truck heaven!
30It’s funny that there was a truck called “Mighty Balls” because on The Next Great American Restaurant on Food Network there was a guy that wanted to name his restaurant “Saucy Balls” and they kept saying it wouldn’t work. Ha!
oooh so glad for your recap, I was so curious what I missed out on. I actually saw Teriyaki Balls at a Japanese food fair on Sunday in Midtown. I never heard of them before and thought their balls were pretty yummy!
31So delicious looking and I am so jealous! Lobster rolls are perfect for summer!
xoxo,
32Chic ‘n Cheap Living
This is in NYC!! How did I not ever know about the Seaport?! This looks like an amazing day to just go around to food trucks and try such amazing and different food. I still have never eaten from a food truck! But the next time Im in NYC I def will! That ice cream sandwich and the lobster roll look AMAZING!!
33mmmMMmm… They all look so yummy, especially that lobster roll! I’ve tried CoolHaus in LA and it was soo good. The perfect treat for a summer day!
34Oh…my….goshhhh. What an amazing amazing thing to be able to go to! Jealous x100!
I totally want to try the Korilla truck after seeing them on the Food Truck Race on Food Network.
And I love the name “Mighty Balls.” Hilarious!
35I seriously wish I could eat as much as you! There is always WAY more good food to try than my stupid stomach allows.
36I can’t actually eat that much in one sitting, but I do eat small snacks all day long!
37Oh man, we have Cool Haus here and I’m pretty sure it is my favorite food truck! Their fresh cookies and ice cream are to die for!
38