The Great Food Truck Race

Hi- Did anybody see this show last night on the Food Network? Tyler Florence is the host of the program, and 7 teams compete with each other. The seven teams set up shop in a city, and the 6 teams that make the most profit, move on to the next city. At each city, one more team is eliminated. The team that is the last remaining one, receives $60,000. Apparently these are established food trucks that are competing. The show looks interesting. I will have to watch it when they show it again. Hope this helps, Nancy

That may be the first time Tyler Florence was confused w/ Tyler Perry!

Hi- Thanks for the correction. I just edited my post.

I just did a search for the program on comcast, and apparently that are not showing the program in the next day, and it is not ONDEMAND yet. Thanks, Nancy

Geez, and here I was thinking we'd get to see the likes of John Force and Kenny Bernstein hurtling down the strip at 300+ mph in foie-gras laden gazstrotrucks.
"Folks, he had an ET of 4.10 but is being penalized 2 tenths for a fallen souffle!"

Looks to me like the Sunday episode is being repeated Wed. Maybe it's just my cable.

I recored the episode on the ol' satellite DVR and watched last night(no White Sox on).

I enjoyed it for what it was. The French food cooking team is interesting, the cajun team over the top personality wise, and the banh mi girls seem fun and are nice to look at.

Ill keep recording them and checking them out at my convenience. San Diego was the first episode, and I think Santa Fe, N.M. is next week.

jimswside wrote:and the ban mi girls fun and nice to look at.

nice. i'll add this show into the rotation

MBK wrote:

jimswside wrote:and the ban mi girls fun and nice to look at.

nice. i'll add this show into the rotation

wish I could spell, and compose a sentence first thing in the a.m.....

I meant to say, the banh mi girls, and they seemed fun and are nice to look at.

The folks from Austin, TX. were pretty interesting as well. .

What I'd love to see is the guy from the Cajun team choke on that whistle of his during a bout of his spastic jumping about.

=R=

The thing that astounded me was the sense that, as each team pulled into town, they were surprised where they were: "Oh, Sandy Eggo. Wonder where I should park?"

Well, duh. From what it seemed, not a single one of the teams had done even a google-recon of the town. Maybe I missed something--didn't they know their destination until way late in the game? [If that, then how did the show get them all to end up in S.D. after driving from, e.g., NOLA or Austin??]

Man, if it had been me I'da known within a cm where I was going to park, what pr I was going to put out, what and how I was going to sell, etc etc. Strange.

Geo

I think they all started in LA(I saw Dodger Stadium in the background in the opening sequence), and since there were 3 LA "teams"(i think) they had them blast down to San Diego to even the playing field a little.

Hi- For those of you that have Comcast, you can get this show on Comcast on demand. Thanks, Nancy

NFriday wrote:Hi- For those of you that have Comcast, you can get this show on Comcast on demand. Thanks, Nancy

great to know, thanks!

Geo wrote:The thing that astounded me was the sense that, as each team pulled into town, they were surprised where they were: "Oh, Sandy Eggo. Wonder where I should park?"

Well, duh. From what it seemed, not a single one of the teams had done even a google-recon of the town. Maybe I missed something--didn't they know their destination until way late in the game? [If that, then how did the show get them all to end up in S.D. after driving from, e.g., NOLA or Austin??]

Man, if it had been me I'da known within a cm where I was going to park, what pr I was going to put out, what and how I was going to sell, etc etc. Strange.

Geo

The thing that astounded me was that somebody would show up with no propane, i.e. the ability to prepare and serve their intended 'food'.

No propane. Yeah, tnx bean, I forgot about that mishap. Sheesh. Good reason those folks went home...

That's the general issue here: these folks seem to be nonchalenting this whole project.

Geo

Geo wrote:No propane. Yeah, tnx bean, I forgot about that mishap. Sheesh. Good reason those folks went home...

That's the general issue here: these folks seem to be nonchalenting this whole project.

Geo

Yes. Didn't one of their team members also sleep late on the critical second morning of the challenge? These folks didn't exactly seem prepared, motivated or qualified to compete. Still, if the guy with the whistle and his Cajun team had been sent home, that would have been perfectly fine with me.

Ah, the dangers of insomnia + On Demand. I almost missed this show but somehow managed to not avoid it.

=R=

Actually the winning team - Nom Nom - identified their preferred location on their way down and made arrangements ... the losing team did as well but had other problems (and then some)

Siun wrote:Actually the winning team - Nom Nom - identified their preferred location on their way down and made arrangements ... the losing team did as well but had other problems (and then some)

It was interesting that the losing team and one of the teams that didn't get eliminated both chose the same venue, which required a participation fee. The team that survived did an effective job of haggling down that fee. The team that got eliminated didn't. It seemed as if this extra bit of business skill (or lack thereof) directly contributed to their being eliminated. Of course, that team also showed up without propane and they slept late, so there were other factors involved, too.

=R=

One of the writers at The A.V. Club had a pretty solid critique of the show, suggesting that it's more about business acumen than actual cooking skill. He also pointed out that aside from two competitors, everyone is from the West Coast, illustrating how far behind the rest of are out East.

danimalarkey wrote:...aside from two competitors, everyone is from the West Coast, illustrating how far behind the rest of are out East.

ALOC!
What's the prize? 50 grand. So I'm going to drive cross country from NYC in a truck that's not used on interstates--is maintained to do short jaunts? Why? Publicity? I loose all my regular customers for the time I'm gone and probably ruin my truck. The prize is not worth the continental travel.

Hi- I finally saw the show on demand last night. The team that came in #1, had the most interesting food. The team that came in last, had the least interesting food. Wasn't it just wings and pudding they were selling? That combination does not turn me on. The fact that they forgot the propane, and the fact that one of them overslept, led me to believe that they were going to be the first group eliminated.

I do not know if a $50,000 grand prize would be enough to motivate me to do this. During the preview of next week's show, they show one of the trucks breaking down on the highway.

Hope this helps, Nancy

bean wrote:What's the prize? 50 grand. So I'm going to drive cross country from NYC in a truck that's not used on interstates--is maintained to do short jaunts? Why? Publicity? I loose all mey regular customers for the time I'm gone and probably ruin my truck. The prize is not worth the continental travel.

Really good point. At a glance, the prize seemed insanely low but what you say here really drives home the point (pun somewhat intended ).

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

bean wrote:What's the prize? 50 grand. So I'm going to drive cross country from NYC in a truck that's not used on interstates--is maintained to do short jaunts? Why? Publicity? I loose all mey regular customers for the time I'm gone and probably ruin my truck. The prize is not worth the continental travel.

Really good point. At a glance, the prize seemed insanely low but what you say here really drives home the point (pun somewhat intended ).
=R=

Yes, but they get to be on TV, which for some people is reward unto itself. Just ask GWiv.

(go team Nam Nam!)

Bean and Ronnie are directly on point—I hadn't thought about that. Now it makes me wonder about the quality of the trucks: suppose you had a *really* successful truck in, say, Austin. Would $50K even slightly interest you in missing so much of your season?? (Of course, there's Stevez's point as well... ) I mean, maybe we don't even have the top trucks in the competition??

Geo

Hi- A new episode is going to air at 8:00p.m. tonight 8/22 on the Food Network. They are going to be in Santa Fe tonight. Hope this helps, Nancy

watched Sundays episode last night(no Sox game again).

sad to see the cajun folks go, despite the over the top guy, I liked their team, and what they were making. Its too bad the French and the cajun team were in the bottom 2, I thought the french teams pepper dish looked interesting.

I was hoping the pressed sandwich folks from Austin would be gone, or the crepe team, neither team really interests me, and neither does their food.

The nom nom girls kicked some butt again, no surprise, their sandwiches look really good.

Geo wrote:Bean and Ronnie are directly on point—I hadn't thought about that. Now it makes me wonder about the quality of the trucks: suppose you had a *really* successful truck in, say, Austin. Would $50K even slightly interest you in missing so much of your season?? (Of course, there's Stevez's point as well... ) I mean, maybe we don't even have the top trucks in the competition??

Geo

After giving this some more thought, a savvy team (like the Nam Nam girls, for example) could really cash in on this should they win. The $50K isn't much, but the franchising opportunities are limitless. Just imagine a fleet of (franchised) Nam Nam trucks across the country as more and more cities hop on the food truck bandwagon. And then, there's the whole sports stadium vendor market to consider.

my girls have their own website - I want one of their t-shirts.

http://www.nomnomtruck.com

jimswside wrote:my girls have their own website - I want one of their t-shirts.

http://www.nomnomtruck.com

oy

These girls are a lock--good food...great marketing and business saavy...bikini website shots. The other trucks wont' know what hit them

stevez wrote:After giving this some more thought, a savvy team (like the Nam Nam girls, for example) could really cash in on this should they win.

Steve, looking at their website, it's clear that they're so quick on their feet that they don't even need to win: they've got a moneyspinner by the handle.

Ballparks, indeed—that and everything else. But then, who doesn't need a good banh mi available in their neighborhood/life??

Geo