Even after a relatively easy winter, I was ready last Wednesday to go out for the first Food Truck Rodeo of the season. There is an excitement that comes with seeing the new truck concepts in action after all the hard work they put in to get ready for these tentpole events. We had fantastic clear skies and cool weather at the Public Market and a solid but manageable crowd of people compared to the craziness that comes in the summer.

As always I’ll be recapping any new trucks that pop up, reviews of dishes I sampled and my overall thoughts about this month’s event in the normal format below.

New Openings

We had a solid slate of openings for the first event of the year and at least a couple more coming in the next couple months.

The Bento Box has opened a second portable unit (trailer in this case) focused on made to order ice cream. Their ice cream is frozen on cold plates and scraped into tubes. Cool concept!

Rob’s Kabobs had their opening night at the Rodeo. Rob is serving up Puerto Rican influenced kabobs at his renovated truck. I have some tasting notes in the dish reviews section below! You can also find him working at Next Door in Pittsford.

Midnight Smokin’ is the newest BBQ truck on the streets of Rochester serving up their takes on some BBQ classics. Two tastings notes from them including sides in the section below.

Didn’t get a chance to try the macarons, creme brulee or the beignets at the new truck from Sweet Sammie Janes but the lines were long and I heard some great things. Looking forward to trying them next month.

Hot Rosita’s is the latest brick and mortar restaurant to open a food truck to take their food to the streets. They are serving to go versions of their Americanized taco/burrito like food on the truck.

Dish Reviews

I went along with Chris Clemens from Exploring Upstate and we sampled food from a number of different trucks. Pics and descriptions below!

We tried two different kabobs at Rob’s Kabobs: the fried chicken and plantain and the sweet heat chicken. The chicken and plantain was a standout with crispy yet tender chicken with perfect seasoning. The sheet heat was better than I expected since I typically do not prefer sweeter BBQ sauces. The veg and pineapple on the kabob helped to break up the flavors.

We ordered both the pulled pork and bacon and the brisket sandwiches from Midnight Smokin’ to get a baseline for how they were operating. Unfortunately both sandwiches were served at room temp or cooler which made the textures off balance. The mustard sauce and the pork filled baked beans were standouts but I’d like to see more from the sandwiches next time.

Hot Rosita’s served me up a pork taco to try towards the end of my run. If you’re a fan of Chipotle style Mexican food, Hot Rosita’s is right up your alley with even more selection.

Overall Thoughts

Thanks to my friend Chris Clemens for joining the eating party and allowing me to sample food from a good chunk of the new food trucks without being a complete monster in the process. I was pretty happy with the overall quality of the new food and of course expect them all to get better as the season goes on. Seeing all the familiar faces behind the truck windows was fantastic and I could tell everyone was ready for the season to really kick into high gear.

Rumor is that there will be a pressed sandwich truck and another Asian themed truck soon.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you back here for the next recap in the warmer months!