A little rain wasn’t going to keep me away from the food truck a palooza down at the Pump house in the water front. I was excited to try all the different trucks and see what the pump house area was like as I’ve always heard of events there but never been. Unfortunately a little rain DID keep some of the food trucks away which was disappointing and the rain did make us decide to leave a little early so I didn’t get to try as many places as I wanted.
First stop was Zeke’s coffee stand because I hadn’t had coffee at all yet and it was already 3pm. I could feel myself slowly morphing into a creature made of pure grump so I headed straight for the only thing that could forestall my impending transformation. Their coffee is my favorite in the city. My local coffee shop serves it and to be honest I’m now pretty spoiled for coffee anywhere else. I got a small because I’m delicate like that and caffeine too late in the day keeps me up all night and I was already really committed to a super lazy weekend and being awake past 10pm seemed like it would be too much effort. My coffee was gone in under 3 minutes and we headed to our second stop, Happy Camper Cakes.
Happy Camper Cakes was the cutest, their whole shtick was adorable with a little fake fire out front and their old timey décor. They make small cupcakes, I say small because they’re in between a normal cupcake and a one and done cupcake. A two-biter for sure. I chose a delightful vanilla cupcake filled with lemon curd and a lemon butter cream, sadly I was unable to take a picture as it was raining pretty hard at the time and I was cowering under my umbrella trying to shove a cupcake in my mouth. My only complaint was that there was a little too much frosting to eat the cupcake comfortably, I prefer my ratios more 2:1 cake to frosting.
Il Pizzaiolo Mobile Pizza Oven
We ended up feasting on a pizza from pizzaiolo primo, Il pizzaiolo’s mobile pizza oven. I’ve noticed a lot of food trucks in the Pittsburgh area are extensions of restaurants. Seems like they’re trying to capitalize on the popularity of food trucks. Personally I prefer helping the little less established guy but I’ve never been to il pizzaiolo and wanted to give it a shot. We chose the margherita pizza deciding that simple was best if we were going to try a few different items. The pizza was ready in no time, the crust was thin and the sauce sweet but not too sweet and the cheese was perfect little melted medallions. I’d give it a solid B+ on the mobile pizza ovens of Pittsburgh scale.
Pittsburgh Po Boy Truck
We also gathered a blackened chicken po boy from Pittsburgh po boy. The chicken was juicy and the lettuce crisp. It comes with tomato but I removed mine. I just can’t do raw tomatoes. I try and try but I can’t make myself like them. The aioli on the sandwich was really what made it I felt. Pretty sure I could have slathered it on rocks and had a satisfying meal.
Big Poppa’s
Our final choice was Big Poppa’s Homecookin’, I’m fairly certain they’re usually somewhere around Pitt but I had never heard of them before. Since I had never heard of them I thought I had better try them and we got the smoked brisket tacos. I wish it was noted on the board but these tacos came fully loaded with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and sliced chilis. The brisket was tender and flavorful but a little hidden behind the add-ons. If we didn’t have a pizza and a sandwich to eat I’m sure it would have been fine but there is a limit! We also opted to get a side of the mac and cheese which I am so glad we did. Not only was it that perfect mac and cheese you get at bbq restaurants but instead of macaroni they used some other kind of pasta! After some extensive googling I want to say it was lumaconi, but that’s a best guess. Whatever it was it was perfect.
Full spread
All in all it was a perfectly successful day and I can’t wait to try more of the food trucks Pittsburgh has to offer!
The Yankee and The Yinzer 