Food truck road trip A cookbook : more than 100 recipes collected from the best street food vendors coast to coast

Pham and Shen, the folks from the food blog Behindthefoodcarts.com, took an epic road trip to highlight some of the country's most innovative food trucks and the people behind them to find out why they do what they do and, more importantly, how they do it so well. While this isn't the first (or likely the last) book devoted to the boom in food trucks, Pham and Shen, along with photographer Terri Phillips, do a terrific job of showing why these trucks have such devoted followings by showcasing unique takes on classics like Maker's Mark Fried Chicken from New York City's Big D's Grub Truck, as well as innovative regional fare such as a porchetta sandwich with pimento cheese from the aptly named Porchetta Truck in Durham, S.C.; ethnic family fare like New Orleans's La Cocinita's labor-intensive Venezuelan arepas with muchacho; and fusion fare like the Peached Tortilla's pad thai taco in Austin, Tex. It wouldn't be a food truck book without a dash of pretension, provided by Fried Egg I'm In Love's Yolko Ono, a hipstery riff on the classic breakfast sandwich served in Portland, Ore.. There are a few clunkers, such as Philly's Tot Cart's recipe for G-Parm Tots (frozen tater tots, dried garlic, and grated Parmesan cheese), but that's the thankful exception to the rule. Foodies of all stripes and tastes are sure to find something worth trying. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

What do spam musubi, pad thai tacos, beef and bacon chili with corn bread waffles, and oxtail mac and cheese have in common? They're specialties from some of the most popular food trucks in the country. Recipes from more than 60 trucks appear in this collection of desirable comfort foods by food and travel bloggers Pham and Philip Shen (behindthefoodcarts.com), who have done an excellent job of selecting a wide range of dishes (e.g., soups, sandwiches, sides, drinks, desserts) to adapt for home kitchens. In addition to recipes, which are given in U.S. standard and metric measurements, the book includes bright color photos and short profiles of food truck owners. VERDICT Highly recommended for readers who'd relish a fun collection of extremely trendy foods. The Asian, Latin American, and fusion selections are fantastic. (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.