I’m not sure what’s drawn me into The Great Food Truck Race, because I’ve never really had a desire to eat anything from a food truck. They always seem, well, dirty, but the trucks featured on the show are (mostly) pristine and as clean as any restaurant kitchen (although I’ve seen a few of those I wouldn’t want to eat from either). I think what’s drawn me into the show are the teams themselves and the fact that they all specialize in a particular type of food. Sure, you’ve got the above average burgers and sandwiches, but the Nom Nom Truck has me searching my town for a bahn mi sandwich. Spencer on the Go’s French cuisine crosses some boundaries with me though – an escargot lollipop. Sorry, no thanks.
This week the four remaining teams headed to the Big Easy where they thought it would be a snap to sell sell sell to, as one team put it, hungry drunks. As with all the challenges, the teams start out on equal footing, and host Tyler Florence doles out the money to get them started. This time they each got $400 and an extra 24 hours to sell. I assume they can dip into their profits during each stop to buy more food. Either that, or they have a miracle worker who can multiply the loaves and proteins to feed the masses.
Week after week, the Nom Nom team have proven to everyone that they are savvy businesspeople with connections everywhere, and a nose for sniffing out the best locations. When not one, but two teams stole their original parking space in front of a bar, the Nom Noms found a Pinkberry nearby that had a steady stream of traffic, even in the pouring rain. Even with all of that adversity, the Nom Noms handily won the New Orleans leg of the race with an $800 advantage over second place Grill ‘Em All, who should blame Karma for their defeat. You steal someone’s parking spot, the skies will open up, and your roof will leak right into your fryers. Lesson learned.
The one team I am ready to see leave the race is Spencer on the Go. I’m a little over the superior French attitude and the whining about the small amount of seed money they get to start. They have a system of finding a local restaurant and either buying from their pantry or using their food distributor. In New Orleans, Frenchy decided to buy their food from … a pizza parlor! You’re in New Orleans, and you can’t find a French restaurant? And they waited there all day until the owner arrived, ordered food that wouldn’t arrive until early the next morning and lost a day of selling. Great tactic. Maybe they should give the Nom Noms a few lessons to knock them out of the top spot.
This week’s Truck Stop Challenge awarded the winner an extra $500 to add to their total. All they had to do was fillet a catfish and prepare a perfect dish. None of the teams really knew how to fillet or prepare catfish except one – Spencer on the Go, who used the extra cash to propel them all the way to third place, sending Austin Daily Press packing. The final three teams will next head to Jonesborough, TN, pop. 5000. A town Tyler Florence claims has never seen a food truck. How will they take to snooty escargot lollipops and bahn mis? Will Grill ‘Em All finally bring home the bacon with their All American burgers? I have no idea, but my mouth is watering for more.
Clacked by Chuck Duncan 
on Sep 13, 2010 @ 21:44 EST5EDT
You’ve got to proofread more closely to get rid of typos like misspellings of “fryers” and “Daily.” Also, you think restaurant kitchens are “pristine”? Good luck to you!
Noted on the proof-reading. Thanks for giving the new guy a break.
But as to restaurant kitchens, I believe it says that I have seen a few that I would not want to eat from, indicating that they are not pristine (but should be).
Nice article, Chuck! I’ve never seen the show.
Thanks Joe. It’s very addictive. Check out Food Network this Sunday, Sept. 19, starting at 4:00 PM Eastern for a marathon of the show leading up to the finale at 9:00 PM! I think you’ll enjoy it, and the more people who watch the better chances of the show getting a second season.