Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Four Luck Clover Truck

I consider myself an artsy person but if not that, then I'm definitely someone who appreciates craftsmanship and artistic talent. It's why I love going to farmer's markets, fairs, and small-towns in the Cape because the streets are aligned with boutiques and small businesses. I love seeing the different things people make hand-made and sell. Boston has this well known farmer's market every Sunday from May through October called SoWa, which stands for "South of Washington Street". Local farmers and boutique owners gather to showcase their products for people to basically walk around, marvel, and hopefully purchase. And surrounding the entire market are all these different food trucks, savory and sweet, as well as one fashion truck. My friend and I made plans to finally take a trip here and it was actually not that far. We took the bus fifteen minutes there and we took a nice walk back. 

The first thing you enter is the actual farmer's market with tons of different produce to see; fresh greens, plump grape tomatoes, and warm breads of all kinds. At the end was an Indian/Mediterranean table with samples of pita bread, hummus, and other spreads. I sampled pita bread with original hummus and a good spoonful of tabouli salad. I absolutely loved how fresh the mint made it! So I bought a bag of pita bread and a case of tabouli salad while my friend bought Kalamata Olive hummus. Since it was my first time, I thought this was all there was. But if you continue along, there's a small walkway you can go through. I was so surprised because I noticed an even larger market down the path! Here is where all of the arts, crafts, bags, furniture, clothes and tons of other things were being sold. And this was also where all of the various food trucks were parked waiting for people to crowd around and grub on their delicious gourmet foods. Though it wasn't my first time eating here, my friend and I decided to buy a sandwich from the vegetarian Clover food truck. I cannot stress enough how amazing the food here is.

This truck defies all those stereotypes about vegetarian food. So if you're a vegetarian or a vegan, this would be pure heaven for your taste buds. And if you're a raging, meat-craving carnivore? Slide that slab of steak over because I still recommend you trying out one of these sandwiches. The actual truck is actually referred to as a "food lab", testing out different combinations of the most organic produce varying from season to season. Their endeavors in making all of their meals healthy is stimulating; they cut down on as much fat as they can, lots of their meals are glutton free, and they barely use any chemicals if not any at all. The vegetables are so perfectly seasoned and so fresh and you cannot go without trying one of their iced teas. 

My coworker recommended me this sandwich for so long, so I finally ordered The Chickpea Fritter: whole wheat pita with hummus spread,  stuffed with shredded carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, red cabbage, and "chickpea fritters", and all dressed with a lemony paste. The sandwich tasted very Mediterranean or Israeli-influenced. My best friend ordered the The Egg and Eggplant: nicely seasoned eggplant (and we all know how hard it is to cook eggplant) with cucumber-tomato salad, and a hard-boiled egg all in a hummus-spread whole wheat pita bread. And while we were waiting for our names to be called, the employees were handing out free sample plates of their Rosemary French Fries. So these weren't just any regular fries; seasoned with the rosemary, the flavor was mildly earthy. And I've noticed an interested trend with these food trucks: they experiment a lot with their lemonades! For that afternoon, I had a nice cold cup of Blueberry Lemonade which I have never ever heard of before. My friend had a Hibiscus Iced Tea. And I must say, that was the best I've ever had because there was a strong distinctive hibiscus flavor. That meal was probably the epitome of what they call a satisfying meal. I was full but not overpoweringly stuffed. Also considering how health-conscious the food is, I felt like I could've been losing weight while eating. If I could have access to that kind of food for every meal everyday, I wouldn't mind being a vegetarian at all. Now to wrap this post up, I would like to just talk about how unique this Clover "food lab" is. If you go on their website, like most, there's an about section as well as a nutritional section. If you read their posts, the way they test and trial their meals sounds exactly like what scientists do in their labs. For example, their method of making rosemary french fries has been though through so seemingly strenuously. First off, the clover chefs consider the width and length of the cut of the potato strips. They try to use a minimal amount of oil and a perfect medium of heat to fry their fries nice and crispy. So all combined, they create the typical fries everyone loves to enjoy! They even have a bar graph measuring the fat content of their french fries compared to other fast-food chain restaurants. So as soon as you look at that dry-erase board menu on their truck, you can trust that you are in good hands. You are being served by people who have your best health in mind, from the initial point of ordering their produce, through the testing and creations of their meals, to the last moment they hand you your sandwich wrapped in easy foil. Follow them on twitter and Facebook to see where their truck is heading to next. Who knows, maybe you'll be the next lucky customer!

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