Friday June 1, New Dining Experience

A few days ago Ramiro saw on the news about a "food Park' that is comprised of food trucks that gather at a particular location every night. We decided to check it out because the weather is very pleasant--cool and dry. The food park is located behind the 7th Ave. Target Store, on Weisenberger St. We drive north on University to 7th street, then drive around until we see the Target. We found the food park easiy. We parked on the street and walked to the off street location, which consisted of a large lot with two long parallel driveways separated by a gravelled courtyard on which there were two rows of picnic benches. There were strings of white ligts across the courtyward, but these were not lit as it was still quite bright. We decided to walk the length of the drives to see what the trucks were selling. The first truck was for RedJett Sweets, apparently a local cupcakery. The chubby blond selling the confections seemed fond of her creations--chocolate, red velvet, vanilla cupcakes mounded with gobs of creaamy icing. We decided to push on. Next was Gepetto's Pizza, which also served pasta with meatballs and salads. Next to that was a BLT Truck, which served about 10 variations on the bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich, some featuring cheese like gorgonzola and roquefort. This was next to a permanent building that housed the bathrooms. Clearly a customer-friendly evironment, and conducive to having people stay for a while. Across the courtyard from th bathrooms was another permanent building that dispesed all the alcoholic drinks--lots of local handcrafted beers, various wines, and mixed drinks like margaritas and mojitos. One would have tasted mighty good, but I can't have alcohol, at least not for now. Working our way back to the entrnce, the next truck we saw served ceviche, fried fish, and shrimp. I can't have cevice (or ANY raw food), so that was out of the question. Next was The Drifting Bistro, which served steaks, burgers, and fries. This was followed by the Grilled Cheese Sandwich Truck with its 10-12 variations on the classic. They also sold tomato soup, which would have bee wnderful if the weather were a little cooler. The last truck was called Salsa y Limon, and billed itself as serving "tacos con todo." We decided to try this truck. I ordered an "El Capitan," which was a taco on a flour tortilla made with grilled skirt steak, grilled onions, pickled cabbage, and a sprinkling of cilantro. I ordered a side of rice and beans. Ramiro ordered a skirt steak quesadlla, which came with rice and beans. After e got our food, Ramiro got us some hot sauce, and I sprinkled some on my taco, not knowing exactly how hot it was going to be. Fortunately, it was just right. The taco was pretty tasty, if somewhat small. Ramiro's quesadilla was good sized. Apparently it is "first come, first to park" for the trucks, and I understand that the mix of vendors is different each night, depending on who gets there early enough to get a parking slot. We ate our food and enjoyed people watching. We were sitting by ourselves at a picnic table, but eventually a young couple slid into the other end of the bench. She was a scrawny young woman with bad skin and rather homely. He was a decidedly middle Eastern type--dark skin, dark hair, dark eyes. She fawned on him and was clarly much more into him than he was into her. They sat there for a long time without ordering any food, but she was so glad to have a date that she would have starved first rather than ask for anything. I heard her ask him "So what's the game plan for tomorrow?" I though she was asking about their plans, but he answered that his parents would be arriving about 8 a.m., picking him up, then they'd all drive home. She answered in the parlance of the young: "That is so awesome!" As I said, she was clearly more into him than he was into her, and she would periodically extend her arm all th way across the picnic table toward him. He kept his arms close to his chest, although at one point he covered her hand with his. She immediately turned her hand palm up and grasped his his hand, which he immediately withdrew. She left her arm extended toward him, but he did not repeat his gesture. She did eventually retract her arm, although throughout the evening she would extend her arm toward him futilely, as it turned out. At one point he finally got up and brought back two grilled cheese sandwiches. After he sat back down he asked, as an afterthought, "Do you want something to drink?" to which she answered no. She ate her sandwich in dry gulps. Her attention was somewhat deflected from him by a young man who was carrying a beautiful blue-eyed blonde baby girl. The scrawny girl started cooing at the baby and said somethimg to her date. Without bothering to turn to look at the baby, he rewarded her with a sneer, as if to say "Don't get any ideas." I thought "you're not getting a baby that looks like that from THIS young man," but I kept my silence. The next distraction was the arrival of about 15 young women, all carrying paper fans. One was wearing a pink sash aross her chest. I surmised it was a bachelorette party, and eventually the sash-bearing woman turned to face us and I could see the word Bachelorette emblazoned in rhinestones on the sash. Scrawny craned her neck to get a better view, and again commented to the young man about a wedding party. The one-expression guy rewarded her with another sneer. Limited repertoire of responses. I was surprised to see how many of the women in the bridal party sported tattoos--full sleeves, entire leg, across the back, neck and shoulders. Such beautiful skin marked by hideous skulls, crosses, chinese characters, flowers, etc. The crowd was an odd mix of old, young, single, married, etc. We saw an old Horned Frog (TCU mascott)--an old guy wearing purple and white (TCU colors) from baseball hat to shirt, shorts, socks and shoes. This being Texas, there were a number of women wearing frilly sun dresses, high heels, and tons of makeup. Then there were the society matron types--wearing expensive leather sandals with matching handbags, skinny white jeans topped with flowing silky tops that were large enough to hide a multitude of flaws from flabby belllies to jiggly bottoms. Of course, arms, necks, and fingers were bedizened with gaudy jewelry. Lots of teenagers, lots of student types wearing jeans and t-shirts. We saw one couple about our age; they got cupcakes and margaritas, then sat down to play with their separate phones. Periodically one would share a pic or message with the other, but for the most part, each was lost into his/her own technology. As good an excuse for not talking as any other.