Today marks a big day for we Denver foodies as The Great Food Truck Race (courtesy of Food Network) is in town. Hot damn! Imagine the excitement Lisa and I felt as we arrived at Steuben’s for brunch and a look at the Korilla BBQ Truck, a Korean Bar B-Q outfit from New York. After we finished our delectable eggs-in-a-hole, we journeyed out to find a very long line of eaters waiting for K BBQ to start serving. Lisa and I took a few photos and, seeing nothing I could eat on their menu, decided to head down 17th to Marczyk Fine Foods and check out Lime, a truck from California and Chef Chris Hodgson cooking in his truck named Hodge Podge, hailing from Ohio’s culinary capitol, Cleveland. That’s when things began to get a little sketchy…
Both Lime and Hodge Podge had earlier posted menus for the day. Typically, menus are designed to showcase local ingredients and flavors though I saw only an obligatory degree of evidence for that on either menu board. Lime had some California-inspired fish and meat dishes I couldn’t eat, so we skipped them. Hodge Podge had a $17.00 (!) lobster roll (perfect for an economical lunch-time nosh and featuring freshly caught Rocky Mountain Lobster, I guess), Tater Tots (which looked a LOT like Ore-Ida’s) with Truffle Oil , something they called a Southwest Burger (onion rings, roasted chili, cheese, and a burger, piled into an approximatly 4" high sandwich and slathered with something that resembled McDonald’s “secret sauce”) which was so tall I don’t think you could actually bite into it without first dislocating your jaw (perfect for all those southwestern burger-loving rattlesnakes), and a dish very common around here, Truffle Mac ‘n Cheese ($7.00). I have a true soft spot for macaroni and cheese, one of the most comforting of the comfort foods. And truffle oil….does that need an explanation? Deep and earthy, redolent with the aroma of fine wild mushrooms, a gustatory delight well-suited to the cheesy sharpness of well-made mac ‘n cheese. “Well-made” being the operative term here.
As Lisa and I made our way up to the appropriatly cheerful girl taking orders, we had no idea a serving of mac n’ cheese would take so long to prepare. We had no idea of course, because the cheerful girl never mentioned to us or anyone else during the hour or so we waited there that the kitchen in the truck was hopelessly behind. A brief explanation, even a half-hearted “sorry" would’ve gone a LONG way in assuaging my indignation as we waited and waited and waited, and waited! But no, nothing, food or otherwise, was forthcoming as we perspired in the early May heat and watched as a presumably ex-pat Cleavelandite friend of someone in the back of the truck barged through the rather long line of backed-up orders and patiently waiting guests and was served almost as soon as she showed up. Bad form Hodge Podge.
Worse form was to come, however, as, almost an hour later, we finally and unappoligetically got our order. One look and I was immediately suspicious of this stuff. The familiar, non-descript elbow macaroni was swimming in a thin, pale-yellow sauce, garnished with a scattering (about 3.5 shreds, no kidding, see the photo) of chopped parsley and a smattering of paprika. But appearances aren’t everything and in all fairness taste is what really matters, after all. I eagerly took a bite, and boy was I disgusted. The noodles were soft and on the verge of being over-cooked, not necessarily a bad thing if the sauce is good. Too bad it wasn’t. Almost flavorless save for the cream, I could detect little to none of the advertised cheddar or "local goat cheese”, only a hint of cheap truffle oil which bordered on rancidity, and a little under-cooked garlic. What a sorry mess this was. I asked Lisa to take a fork-full in order to double-check my taste buds, and she whole-heartedly agreed. It needed some flavor;sharp cheddar, smoked Gouda, a little tang from the “local goat cheese”, anything! Garnish it with Smart Food for god’s sake! Velveeta! Whatever… It’s called Mac ‘n CHEESE for a reason. I don’t know with any certainty what insult occurred in the truck to render such a bland and uninspired dish, but it undoubtledly would’ve taken a good deal of effort (about an hour’s worth by my reckoning) to totally obliterate all the cheese flavor from a scratch-made sauce. And at $7.00 a serving, I expected a LOT more. And need I mention that the food trucks are in competition! One would anticipate an all-out effort to win, not some disgusting, callow, half-assed attempt at a really easy dish which I can put together in 10 minutes if I pace myself.
After tasting and re-tasting to indelibly burn the truly heinous nature of this stuff into my brain, I unceremoniously tossed the remains into the garbage. Sorry Chef Hodgson, really I am, but I was sorely disappointed. Best of luck to you.