Food Truck Safari

5:45 PM on November 18^th, 61 degrees and pretty dark outside, who in their right mind goes outside at the Zoo for grub??? Well, the answer of course is a lot of fine folks looking for some super fresh and tasty food!!! Add some live music and a very family friendly environment and you’ve got a true winner!
So, while I’ve been eating off food trucks literally my entire life, this was my first food truck «event». And the Mrs and I were very impressed.
Even before I mention the food, I have to mention how friendly and absolutely professional the vendors were. We were so stoked by their warm smiles and fantastic service.
The food: after perusing the eight trucks, we started with Baconmania, a Big Pig pulled pork sammy for me and a dish of Mac ‘N Bacon for the Mrs.
My sandwich was delicious. Honestly delicious. Did I mention it was delicious? $ 10 for a big bun/​roll packed full of amazingly delicious pulled pork, tangy slaw, ok sauce, and BACON!!! Most mortals would happily consume this mountain O’ pork and tap out. But not this foodie… Later on that.
The Mac ‘N Bacon ordered by the Mrs was wicked. Yes, over-​the-​top, 100mph fastball wicked. Is there a cardiologist’s phone # in your contacts? Might want to think twice. But for those who can indulge occasionally, dive on in. Firm pasta, real cheese flavor, nice «bite» to the sauce, and of course BACON!!! $ 7 is a deal for this better-​than-​most offering.
The next truck we visited was really a trailer. A trailer offering Filipino grub. Rice plates, Lumpia, Milk teas, Jasmine green teas and Slushies.
So, we had to get the Shanghai Lumpia a la carte. Eight smallish rolls with a light sauce and green onions served smoking hot. Pretty tasty. We agreed we would order again.
Last truck was the Cichy Co. This restaurant on wheels provided our French fry fix for the evening. Asiago cheese and Truffle fries. Served scorching hot and fresh. Lots of big potato flavor.
Overall this event delivered the goods. Great food in a positive setting while surrounded by nice people.

I came on October 21, and went to the La Mex Taqueria truck and had the veggie burrito and it was so good! I loved their green salsa and the burrito was huge! dogs are allowed and that’s nice but, our dog found something on the ground that turned out to be a chicken bone! luckily he’s very well behaved and didnt eat it, but something to keep in mind if you bring your dog.

The event opened at 5pm. We got there at 5:30. There was a DIFFERENT burger/​hot dog truck there with a light blue A-​frame menu sign — 1^st item was a chili burger. They were already out of chili!
** My daughter said Sacramento’s Taco Truck was excellent, fast & had great customer service! **
Not in love but was impressed by Bacon Mania’s large, high quality burger patty & bacon on soft texas toast. Lettuce was floppy (just ditch it, guys). BBQ sauce quantity inconsistent from burger to burger. NO ONIONS… wth? Add on fries were *very* plentiful!
** (10pm update: Have you ever eaten something SOOOO GOOD that you wished you had another a few hours later? That’s my situation right now! I’d sell my soul for another oversized Bacon Mania bacon burger right now… extra sauce, hold the crappy lettuce & I’ll bring my own dammed onions! JUST GIMME ANOTHER ONE NOW!!) **
BACON MANIA STOLE MY TASTEBUDS !!

«Sacto Mofo» translation: «Where the he11 did all the money in my wallet go?»
I gotta say, I love Ashley P.‘s love of food trucks, because if not for that, I probably never would have discovered this place or any of the other Sacto Mofo events. (I only discovered the old one in the Office Depot parking lot because I used to work at Office Depot, and I literally had to drive through it several times before thinking, «Maybe I should buy food from one of these trucks.»)
I love food trucks, but I went down one star from five for three reasons:
1) Everything costs more than it should (I spent $ 33 here last night).
2) There are not nearly as many food trucks in Folsom as there are in Sacramento.
3) Although everyone seems to think of this as a great place to bring kids, it’s really not. How many small children really want to eat gyros or mac n bac fries or really anything that doesn’t start in «cheese» and end in «burger?»
I come here all the time (I’m ranked second in check-​ins after… .Ashley. Big surprise.) Most recently, I came last night with my daughter. Here is the lineup I remember off the top of my head:
Dog Town
Drewski’s
Sweet Spot
Local Kine
Chando’s Tacos
Smoothie Patrol
Smokin’ Hot Pizza
Hefty Gyro
Flavor Face
A regular ice cream truck from Folsom
Some bounce houses
A really good face painter
So my daughter and I walk around to get a feel of what there is before deciding what we want, and we run into Ashley and her sister ACTIVELY talking about me (rude). (I’m just trying to see how many times I can say «Ashley» in this review.) (They were just talking about trying Thai Paradise, and obviously no one could have that conversation without bringing me up, because I live there.) (This whole paragraph basically has nothing to do with my review.)
My daughter stands in front of Flavor Face and says, «I want a cheeseburger with just ketchup.» We had an agreement that if I brought her to the food truck event, she had to try something DIFFERENT, so I get this kind of frustration that you’re not allowed to respond to me about unless you also have children. Finally we came to a compromise, and this is what I recommend to everyone who comes here with picky kids:
Feed them actual dinner before the food truck event. If you are feeling lazy, stop by In N Out. Then spend the money you saved on dessert for them from Sweet Spot or Local Kine, and maybe drop $ 6 on a face painting. That’s exactly what we did, and my daughter had a WAY better time than she would have had with a cheeseburger that I promise she would have taken one bite of and then refused because there were seeds on the bun or something.
I tipped the face painter 33% because she did a really good job, and she was really fast. I’m not sure, but I think she also painted my daughter’s face at a birthday party like 5 years ago, so even though she looks really young, she’s been doing this for a while.
Now onto the food I actually ate:
This time I got the ultimate plate from Hefty Gyro, along with a Dr. Pepper because I had to get up at 4:30AM for work. Maybe I’ll leave a more detailed review on the actual truck later. Overall I’d say, good, but not worth it.
My daughter had a shaved snow from Local Kine with the first three flavors that started with «B.» I don’t remember what they were, but damn, that was good. I’d for sure go there again. And it was only $ 5 for a huge shaved ice.
I grabbed an ice cream sandwich from Sweet Spot to bring home to my boyfriend, and obviously took a couple of bites myself. Their maple bacon ice cream is seriously… oh my gosh… you just have to try it. It’s amazing. We had it smashed between chocolate chip cookies, which weren’t quite as good by the time they got to him because I had to freeze the whole thing for a couple of hours, but still, bomb dot com.
Now I will end my review in a suggestion that I think can make someone a millionaire: A FOOD TRUCK JUST FOR KIDS. I’m talking cheeseburgers, hot dogs, milkshakes, etc. at price points of $ 5 or less. You would be the busiest food truck, and you really wouldn’t have to be very good, but if you offered organic food or some healthy options, that would be a plus. Seriously. Someone please do this. Kthx.

Food Truck Safari is at the top of my food truck venue list. This is saying a lot because food trucks are pretty much my most favorite thing of all time in the history of ever, and I have been to many of the local events (Sacto MoFo, Food Truck Mania, Food Truck Fridays, etc.).
Here’s what it’s all about – and I don’t mean the Hokey Pokey: I love that everyone in your party gets to choose what they want to eat. I love the live music which sets the tone for the whole evening. I love the string lights that scream «it’s nice enough out to eat dinner outside!» I love that sometimes the local chickens come over to check out what you’re eating. I love hanging out so close to the Folsom Zoo Sanctuary that every once in a while, you’ll hear an exuberant peacock or other exotic creature.
The whole thing is just brilliantly put together. Bring your sunglasses, picnic blanket, and a healthy appetite!