January 21st is a big day for Motorco. During the day, it will play host to the second Luchadoras competition, Durham’s own women’s Mexican wrestling extravaganza. We’ve been told this time there will be even more wrestlers and a tag-team match. The beloved Captain Poncho’s Tacos truck will again be out front (order early) and bikeCOFFEE! will be there with a special Counter Culture Luchadores coffee and a La Luchadora Tabla (a slab of dark Mexican chocolate, cayenne, cacao nibs and Mexican coffee). It’s $5 at the door (free for children under 12) and all proceeds go toward the NC Dream Team. During the last match, kids were allowed to interact with the wrestlers, climb in the ring and learn a few basic moves. Doors open at 11 am and the action starts at noon.

Then later that evening, Motorco will also host Durham’s first food truck mash-up. KoKyu, Pie Pushers, Chirba Chirba and Farmhand Foods will team up to serve “mashups” of their normal offerings and Parlour ice cream will be featured in Motorco cocktails. The trucks will each be serving three different dishes and none of their regular menu items.

To avoid the craziness that sometimes arises with food truck rodeos, this will be a ticketed event. It’s $25 advance/$30 at the door for all you can eat. Doors open at 4 pm and food will be served at 6 pm. There will also be music in the Garage from London Dungeon, Gary B & The Notions, and JOLO.

We have been told that there will be 12 “mashed” items for consumption.

 What we’ve heard:

From Pie Pushers: a Farmhand Foods garlic knot (local Farmhand Foods Italian sausage, Farmhand Foods pimento cheese and Farmhand Foods fennel chowchow) and a mini calzone pocket filled with Chirba Chirba edamame, noodles and mushroom soy veggies

From KoKyu: 5 spice rubbed Farmhand Foods brisket TaKo, citrus BBQ sauce & herby/crunchy slaw

From Chirba Chirba: A Pie Pushers pizza dumpling with pepperoni, spinach, fresh mozz served over marinara

From Farmhand Foods: A grilled cheese sandwich filled with the toppings from Pie Pushers’ winter veggie pie

Drinks (must be purchased):

The Cold & Stormy: Gosling’s rum, Motorco’s homemade ginger beer and Parlour’s lime sorbet

Orange Mocha Frappuccino – milkshake w/ Vietnamese coffee ice cream, orange syrup, and Godiva liqueur

Drop by Motorco to buy advance tickets for the food truck mash-up (avoiding the service charge) or purchase them through Motorco’s site. Both of these events are sure to be fun. January 21st – another good day to be a Durhamite.

For more information, head over to Motorco’s site. To keep up with any new menu announcements search for hashtag #FTMU on twitter.

Baguettaboutit, a new sausage/baguette truck, hit the roads of Durham last Friday night and it oddly feels a bit corporate. They already have t-shirts with a pithy slogan “wanted bread or alive,” clever sandwich names, a video screen in the front window showcasing their wares, and cute little pre-printed ordering bags.

The concept of Baguettaboutit is European-style fresh baguettes stuffed with a variety of sausage and sauce options. Their pre-printed ordering bags have their sausage baguette options and a design-it-yourself form. You walk up, write your name in sharpie on the bag, select your sandwich and hand it to the guy in the window. It’s a pretty cool ordering system. We were told all of their sausages are from Giacomo’s Italian Market in Greensboro and their baguettes are brought in from Rhode Island.

All baguettes are $6.50 and the menu options all sounded excellent – they include bratwurst with beer mustard, chorizo with habenero sauce, and a sweet Italian sausage with roasted red pepper sauce. We went with “It’s Greek tU Me,” which is chicken spinach sausage with tzatziki sauce and a “U Talking to Me,” a hot Italian sausage with basil tomato vinaigrette. Note – I found it impossible to take a flattering picture of a sausage-stuffed baguette.

Not surprisingly (they’re sausage-stuffed baguettes) both were good. I found the “It’s Greek tU Me” could have used more tzatziki (which I think was a dill/Greek yogurt combo – no cucumber), but this is their first week of operation. The “U Talking to Me” was the tastier of the two as the basil tomato vinaigrette lent itself better to the all in one sandwich concept. I dig the portability and limited mess of the sausage-in-a-baguette design. Though Baguettaboutit doesn’t have anything for vegetarians on their current menu, they were offering a vegetarian-friendly pimento cheese with red pepper special baguette all weekend.

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Two things you need to know about Bike Coffee up front – patience is a must and their beverages are worth the wait.

Bike Coffee is a mobile coffee shop that regularly parks outside and inside of Motorco and other spots around town. It was started by husband-wife team Leon Grodski de Barrera and Areli Barrera de Grodski as a part of their Cocoa Cinnamon business. The Bike Coffee trike serves up artisanal (I know, I know – an overused and abused word) coffee beverages, but these drinks are really works of art. After you order, Leon or Areli hand grind the beans from different select roasters, they then pour-over brew the coffee by the cup and add – if you’re not a purist – things like cayenne, cardamom, lavender, etc.

All of the coffee is organic and fair trade. The moctezuma (hand poured American coffee with dulce de leche and organic cayenne) was sweet and rich with a shocking bite from the combo of cayenne and the heat of steaming coffee. The hue (hand poured organic Asian coffee with a layer of sweetened condensed milk) is excellent at first sip and only improves as the sweetened condensed milk intensifies as you drink. The iced coffees are slow brewed and offered in a house blend and middle eastern style. The middle eastern
(classic moka java blend with organic cardamom, pure vanilla and rose infusion) is as exotic as it is refreshing. Most of the drinks are $3.50 for eight ounces and $4 for twelve ounces. Bike Coffee does offer an organic yerba mate and a mint tea if coffee isn’t your thing.

Before you check Bike Coffee out , it’s worth noting that we have waited over 20 minutes for a single drink. Luckily, they seem to be always parked where other stuff is happening. So I recommend waiting in line to place your order right when you get to Motorco or where ever else you stumble upon the Bike Coffee folks. After placing your order; wander around, check out the band playing Motorco’s Sunday Brunch, browse the Sunday Market vendors, go ahead and get in line for Chirba Chirba or Ko Kyu. The drinks really are worth the wait.

Bike Coffee’s Facebook says they are “a mobile offshoot of Cocoa Cinnamon – a chocolate and coffee lounge in the works for downtown Durham.” I’ve heard rumors that that location will be somewhere near Motorco and Fullsteam.

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Somewhat surprisingly, it has been pretty hard to find a decent doughnut in Durham other than occasionally at the Berenbaum’s bake stand at the farmer’s market. But that changed last month when Monuts Donuts, the doughnut bike, hit the streets. The donut bike is the brainchild of Lindsay Moriarty, who is bringing her passion for doughnuts to Durham.

Monuts offers a variety of classic glazed, cake and frosted yeast doughnuts in a variety of flavors, which seem to change almost as often as the bike makes an appearance around town. We caught up with Monuts during the Art Walk last weekend, set up inside the Scrap Exchange without their bike. They had apple streusel, apple almond and old fashioned pumpkin doughnuts on the menu. A doughnut costs $1.50 and a dozen cost $12.50. Based on a recommendation, we went the streusel. It’s hard to beat a fresh doughnut. Monuts apple streusel was crispy with streusel topping on the outside, light and fluffy on the inside and satisfyingly sweet with hints of cinnamon and fresh apples.

Right now Monuts is at the Durham farmer’s market every Saturday morning and you can find them elsewhere around town by following them on twitter. In addition to catching the bike, you can preorder doughnuts and Monuts will deliver anywhere in the Triangle on any day of the week. Monuts is a pretty cool addition to Durham’s mobile food scene and we look forward to trying more of their offerings.

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Note: Sorry for shoddy pics, it’s really tough to pause to take pictures when holding a fresh doughnut.

Café Prost, a German pretzel truck based out of Wake Forest, made its first (I think) Durham appearance this past weekend.

The menu was really simple – salted, un-salted or cheese pretzels. Salted and un-salted are $2.50 or 2 for $4, cheddar $3.00 or 2 for $5. We ordered two salted.

Truth be told, I’m a sucker for German-style pretzels – I can’t resist stopping at Guglhupf, I will go out of my way to go to Milltown in Carrboro for their pretzels (also from Guglhupf) and beer cheese and I even love the not-great soft pretzels and yellow mustard served at every sporting event. But Café Prost pretzels – still steaming, caramel brown, speckled with just enough sea salt, crisp on the outside and fluffy soft on the inside – just may have been the best I’ve ever had. Café Prost does offer classic yellow or spicy brown mustard for dipping, but really these pretzels don’t need either.

Parked outside of Fullsteam, Café Prost pretzels would be excellent paired with Fullsteam’s El Toro, Rocket Science, Southern Lager or well, pretty much anything else on tap. The guy manning the window assured us Café Prost would be making many more Durham appearances, but if you can’t wait they are at the Wake Forest Farmer’s Market every Saturday from 8am-12pm.

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Café Prost

We got to try out one of the new trucks around town during the Art Walk this weekend – Boxcarr Farms Local in Motion – the truck affiliated with the farm of the same name in Cedar Grove. The truck, like the farm, has an emphasis on sustainable, responsible, local, organic meats and produce.

The day we checked them out on the menu consisted of chili, a basket of fried shrimp and vegetables, three sandwiches and bread pudding. The sandwiches were egg salad, mozzarella, and a reuben with either farm-raised pork or tempeh. From Boxcarr’s twitter feed, it also looks like they’ve offered shrimp and grits, biscuits, prosciutto, french toast and smoked pork in recent weeks. I’m guessing their menu will change seasonally with what’s available on the farm.

We tried the egg salad sandwich and the mozzarella sandwich (broccoli rabe, sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, mozzarella grilled on panini style). Both came on toasted bread. The egg salad was made with farm-fresh eggs, not too much mayonnaise and topped with pickled carrots and greens. Basically a gourmet grilled cheese, the mozzarella oozed with cheese, garlicky broccoli rabe, I’m guessing homemade sun-dried tomatoes and pesto. It tasted as good as it sounds, the salt of the pesto and bite of the sun-dried tomatoes balanced nicely with the creamy mozzarella.

It’s pretty incredible to be able to get fresh, locally-sourced eats directly from the farm out of a truck. Boxcarr Farms Local in Motion is a welcome addition to the Triangle’s ever growing fleet of food trucks. Keep up with them on twitter @boxcarrfarms to find out where they’re going to be. More information about the farm and their philosophies can be found on Boxcarr Farms site.

There’s a new cupcake joint in town – Honey of a Handcake – and it’s driving around town in a bright pink van. Specializing in cupcakes, Honey of a Handcake also sells bundt cakes, whoopie pies and cookies. The really friendly owner/baker said she has mostly done catering/corporate events in the past but recently decided to make the leap onto four wheels.

We spotted Honey of a Handcake out at Golden Belt during Third Friday festivities and, per the owner’s advice, tried a classic nilla vanilla cupcake. It was vanilla butter cake with buttercream frosting. She also offers more interesting flavors like coconut strawberry, pink lemonade, ebony and ivory, chocolate snowball and more. Her cupcakes are large and cost $2.25.

The vanilla reminded me of childhood birthday cakes. It was a classic moist, fluffy yellow cake topped with just the right amount of buttercream icing. Since Daisy Cakes rarely makes night appearances, it’s nice to have another solid cupcake choice on the roads in Durham.

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The first time I experienced Chirba Chirba was outside of Fullsteam during one of their pre-open-for-business dumpling raids. It was kind of the dream – to be sitting outside, sipping a beer when a yellow truck pulls up and a tray of free dumplings is tossed in front of you. That day, I was lucky enough to get to try the soup dumplings and a basket of edamame. Both were excellent and left me wanting more.

Now fully operational and on the streets of the Triangle, I had a chance to try Chirba Chirba again outside of Motorco during the Sunday Bloody Brunch (really if you’re not making it to this weekly, free event – you’re missing out).

Chirba Chirba’s menu is pretty simple – a tray of pork dumplings, a tray of veggie dumplings (fillings vary day to day) or a tray of pork soup dumplings. All are $5 or $6 and come with a side of edamame or sweet pork sausage.

They also offer a sampler tray with two of each dumpling variety for $6, which is what I ordered adding a side of edamame ($2.50). Once you order, the dumplings come out quickly and Chirba Chirba has four dipping sauces available (curry, sesame, spicy, black vinegar). All of the dipping sauces were excellent. The dumplings are served steamed, though I later learned you can order them fried for an extra 50 cents. The dumplings are pretty small and though a portion of six sounds like enough, it left me hungry.

This is only their second week in operation, so I’m guessing they are still working out some kinks. During the dumpling raid, the edamame was bright, green, salty and fresh. On Sunday, it was overcooked, limp and lacked enough salt. The soup dumplings during the raid exploded in flavor and broth, on Sunday they had no soup. The veggie (bok choy and shiitake this day) were my favorite, the shitake filling and pineapple topping adding a nice, bright flavor. The traditional pork were fine, but I think maybe the fried option would have added a nice texture and enhanced the flavor. I was lucky enough to try a friend’s sweet pork sausage side, which was really good. It tasted kind of like a small, dense summer sausage – salty, sweet pork goodness.

Because of the excellent product Chirba Chirba doled out during the dumpling raids, I still have high hopes for the truck and look forward to trying them again. The bright, cheerful Chirba Chirba truck is a fun addition to Durham’s mobile food fleet and worth checking out.

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Will & Pop’s is the perfect late night food. Indulgent grilled cheese sandwiches filled with pulled pork or guacamole – what’s not to like?

Run by father and son duo Will and Kenny Pettis, Will & Pop’s has been on the streets of Carrboro and Durham for over a year now. They get their bread from Weaver Street and their meat and cheese from Cliff’s in Carrboro. With items like the Intimidator (a combination of pulled pork, homemade slaw and a quarter-pound hamburger patty), the Hippie (the aforementioned guacamole grilled cheese) or the Stoner (homemade pumpkin bread with peanut butter, bananas and marshmallow fluff) – Will & Pop’s has a fun menu that satisfies  late-night cravings.

The Gangsta is kind of genius – a combo of buttery grilled cheese combined with a salty, rich pulled pork. The hippie isn’t anything you couldn’t do at home, but something about sitting at a Fullsteam picnic table, beer-in-hand, eating a steaming guacamole grilled cheese – it’s one of those sum is greater than its parts moments.

Making stops in Durham more often, Will & Pop’s can be found outside of Fullsteam on a semi-regular basis. As always follow on twitter to find them @willandpops.

Just in time for the sweltering heat, The Parlour has hit the Durham streets. In a cool retro-fitted, white mini school bus, The Parlour is a modern-take on the classic ice cream truck. But you won’t find any Push-Pops here, The Parlour is dishing out flavors like salted caramel,  honey chai and Vietnamese coffee topped with offerings like Berenbaum’s homemade doughnuts, ginger butterscotch and mocha whipped cream.

So far we’ve tried scoops of strawberry, salted caramel and honey chai. All were rich, indulgent and popping with flavor. The salted caramel is my favorite and reminds me of the mile-high caramel cakes my great-grandmother used to make every birthday. The ice cream, like the cake, is buttery sweet and lick-your-fingers good. Of note for some, The Parlour does do vegan flavors like strawberry basil.

We’ve also tried a milkshake, which they’ll whip up with any of their ice cream flavor options. We went with Vietnamese coffee. It was excellent with hints of caramel and salt. Any of their milkshakes would pair nicely with a slice of Pie Pushers or a Ko Kyu taco.

Tip: One scoop will run you $3 and it’s pretty small, so you should just go ahead and order two for $4.50 or maybe even go for 3 scoops at $5.50. A milkshake also costs $5.50.

It goes without saying that The Parlour is a welcome site in the Bull City. Currently their schedule seems to be near the farmer’s market on Saturday mornings and outside Fullsteam/Motorco on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons for Motorco’s Bloody Brunch. But as always, to really keep up, follow them on twitter .