It was a lovely Saturday two weekends ago, perfect for a lovely trek to Manayunk for their bi-annual StrEAT Food Festival. I had something else going in the morning in downtown Philly so we tried to fit two events in one day. If the sun is out one can do everything, right?
I had the fun opportunity to cover this event and boy was it entertaining!
As we arrived in Manayunk we were under the impression that Main street would be shut down for the festival, but it was not. The whole street was open for all traffic while the curbs were crowded with various food trucks and long lines waiting for food.
I was kind of stressed we arrived at 3:30pm thinking we would not get a chance to try anything at all. Seeing we have only been living in Philly for 7 months, I am getting used to the fact that there is traffic EVERYWHERE! The festival had started at 11am and ended at 5pm. Do you see how nervous I was?
Luckily we were able to catch a few goodies. We first stopped at Local 215 food truck where a lot of their menu items had already been sold out. It did not stop us from trying the last 2 items available: their vegetable tempura and their strawberry cucumber cooler.
I loved the color scheme of the truck and we loved the flavors of the food served. The tempura was lightly breaded and the strawberry cooler was different but delicious! Food trucks are quite new to me. Back in Michigan, I only visited one local food truck that was a farm to truck food truck. 🙂
As a family of four, winding the streets with a double stroller was challenging. Julianne did pretty well because as along as she saw people and activity she was happy. Oh, and as long as you also gave her food she was also VERY happy. She is definitely our child.
Our next stop was Zea May’s. They too were all sold out of their items except for their strawberry soup which was delicious! I loved the fact that all menu items were inspired by Native American cuisines and that most of their menu items were vegetarian and vegan. I simply need to visit their truck in the city at some point!
Our favorite truck (because it was the truck that had not completely sold out) was Farm Truck. We ordered both of the sandwiches they offered and we wept when we saw that their Chocolate Strawberry Brownie was all gone. I NEED that recipe.
The guys operating the truck have only been open for 2 months and they are the nicest. Can I also say that they make AWESOME sandwiches???
Ryan and I shared the sandwiches so we could give our full opinion and we simply liked both. One was a vegetarian sandwich while the other was not since we ordered the Pesto one with prosciutto.
I am sad we did not get to try many other items due to extremely long lines but we definitely want to come again later this year. It was challenging having the kids in the double stroller but it made for a fun outing filled with sunshine and entertainment. There was live entertainment in one street and a small market for local businesses.
Since we did not get a chance to try many food truck foods we stayed in the area and ate dinner with our little family. We dumped the stroller in the car and used our carriers and it was MUCH simpler. I believe we should have gone that way while visiting each food truck.
If you have never attended this festival, try to keep it in mind since the city will be rolling it out again later this year. We will definitely be there!
