Food Truck Road Trip: A Cookbook

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.)