Given Marination Mobile’s recent opening of Marination Station at Pike and Broadway, and Skillet setting up shop nearby at 14th and Union (Josh Henderson tells me to expect a mid-late May opening), street food is getting easier to find when you want it—especially if you live on Capitol Hill. But what if you want to sample from more than one truck at one sitting?
With no next Mobile Chowdown in sight and a more robust Seattle street food scene still a ways away, you’ll need to chase down trucks. Unless, that is, you pounce on opportunities like this Saturday, creating your own little chowdown, which comes with a side of education.
Your first stop should be Hugo House, where at noon you’ll be able to meet and hear Heather Shouse share findings from her book Food Trucks: Dispatches and Recipes from the Best Kitchens on Wheels. Shouse is a Chicago-based reporter for Food & Wine as well as Time Out, and has traveled around the country eating crepes to kimchi quesadillas for her research. Three local trucks featured in the book, Maximus Minimus, Skillet, and Hallava Falafel, will be onsite selling food, as will Street Treats.
From there, you can crawl on down to the South Lake Union Discover Center for the 107.7 The End “First Annual Top Taco Truck Challenge.” Five dollars gets you entry into the Bud Light Lime/Jose Cuervo Margarita Garden and live music by Seattle’s Rewind, as well as the World Famous End A Roke Band (in which you can be the lead singer). But anyone can enjoy the tacos for sale, as El Camion, Rancho Bravo Tacos, Mr. Taco, and Flair Taco will be there, along with Molly Moon Ice Cream to cool things off. For the competition, note that taco voting ends at 5:30, though the event will continue until about 9:00 p.m.