S09.02 Shrimp and Glitz 2018.08.02

[Whimsy]

Tyler Florence welcomes the teams to Las Vegas and gives them a challenge using one of the most popular items on Vegas menus: shrimp. Each truck must create their own ultimate shrimp dish to sell on Fremont Street, and the team that makes the most money wins a prime parking spot for selling the next day. Then, Tyler and Las Vegas restaurateur Elizabeth Blau visit the teams to offer business and culinary advice, and the teams sell their signature dishes on the streets of Vegas, with the least successful truck being eliminated.

[toodywoody]

Heroes on a Halfshell piss me off, their food is plain and not spectacular. Who wants a fucking tuna sandwich or tuna melt or strawberries. They have no imagination. Tuna and strawberries two weeks in a row. Is that what she feeds her kids? How did she think shit like that would make for a good food truck. Just makes me think she isn't a good cook or not even a cook at all.

[CraftyHazel]

I have to agree.  I can’t believe her lack of imagination.  There are trucks selling some impressive looking food, and she has tuna melts??  Nope.

[Maya]

I wonder if it even occurred to her to make a po boy for the shrimp challenge or if she just immediately went to shrimp scampi. ???

They had no idea that they were a hoagie truck. 

Edited August 3, 2018 by Maya

[Brookside]

Those nachos looked like something my cat hawks up.

[LittleIggy]

Twelve dollars for less than half a po-boy? Uh, no!

[GaT]

Heroes on a Halfshell, won't miss them, there was nothing interesting about their food.

[Writing Wrongs]

That New England woman's screeching voice would turn me off from approaching their truck.

I get Heroes On The Half Shell's idea of scooping out the bread for more filling, but if Tuna Melt is all you got, then no thanks. There are endless ideas for sandwiches. How did they even get on this show?

[mlp]

Quote

That New England woman's screeching voice would turn me off from approaching their truck.

I was going to say the same thing.  I seem to recall her saying at the beginning that her main job was to be outside roping in customers.  She didn't seem to be doing much of anything else.  Her high-pitched nasal yelling would keep me from even bothering to look at the menu.

The only person worse from the standpoint of approachability was the bleach-blond guy with the neck tattoo.  He seemed nice enough but looked creepy.  Mom was really the worst offender though.  Mundane tuna sandwiches and the heat in Las Vegas?  Um, no.

[Brookside]

12 hours ago, GaT said:

Heroes on a Halfshell, won't miss them, there was nothing interesting about their food.

The name was terrible -- isn't it usually associated with clams?

[GaT]

5 minutes ago, Brookside said:

The name was terrible -- isn't it usually associated with clams?

Yes, & why "heroes"? It didn't make any sense at all.

[cherbitrary]

1 hour ago, Brookside said:

The name was terrible -- isn't it usually associated with clams?

1 hour ago, GaT said:

Yes, & why "heroes"? It didn't make any sense at all.

Clams and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Heroes on the Halfshell! Turtle Power!). They should have had some sort of turtles-inspired dessert!

Edited August 3, 2018 by cherbitrary
Missed a quote the first time around.

[OoogleEyes]

1 hour ago, cherbitrary said:

They should have had some sort of turtles-inspired dessert!

Oooooh yeah... pecans, caramel, chocolate.....

[Mahamid Frauded Me]

The Hero's on the 1/2 shell seemed to be very sweet, but not cut out for a food truck it seems.  My stomach was churning when the daughter is waiving a tuna melt wrapped in foil in the Vegas sun.  Don't get me wrong, I love me a tuna melt, but it is certainly not inspiring  or creative.  Either Tyler is picking some shitty destinations this season, but compared to last season, these teams are not making money like in the past, a winning truck made 711.00 in VEGAS ? 

[cameron]

4 hours ago, mlp said:

I was going to say the same thing.  I seem to recall her saying at the beginning that her main job was to be outside roping in customers.  She didn't seem to be doing much of anything else.  Her high-pitched nasal yelling would keep me from even bothering to look at the menu.

The only person worse from the standpoint of approachability was the bleach-blond guy with the neck tattoo.  He seemed nice enough but looked creepy.  Mom was really the worst offender though.  Mundane tuna sandwiches and the heat in Las Vegas?  Um, no.

The horrible accent was terrible. 

[Kerri Okie]

20 hours ago, GaT said:

Yes, & why "heroes"? It didn't make any sense at all.

Hoagies or sub sandwiches are also called hero sandwiches.  I thought the name was actually kind of clever but not very effective because until they explained it, I had no idea what they were selling, and half shell doesn't make me think of a scooped out loaf of bread.  I can't believe that their inability to sell tuna in episode one didn't teach them anything.  

I had to laugh when the New England team commented that the other teams would probably make something basic like skewers with their shrimp, and then they went ahead and made...a sandwich.

[GaT]

1 hour ago, Kerri Okie said:

Hoagies or sub sandwiches are also called hero sandwiches.  I thought the name was actually kind of clever but not very effective because until they explained it, I had no idea what they were selling, and half shell doesn't make me think of a scooped out loaf of bread.  I can't believe that their inability to sell tuna in episode one didn't teach them anything.  

I had to laugh when the New England team commented that the other teams would probably make something basic like skewers with their shrimp, and then they went ahead and made...a sandwich.

I didn't even think of it as a hero sandwich, but you could be right, even though the name still doesn't make sense.

[meep.meep]

You are selling food from a truck in one of the hottest places in the US.  It occurs to no one to make drinks?  Drinks with ice?

Why would anyone go buy a tuna sandwich from a food truck?  You can make it at home, in air conditioned splendor (in Las Vegas anyway).  It's bland non-exciting food.  They couldn't even make a shrimp sandwich when it was handed to them.

I hope we get an explanation for why in the early years the trucks were making thousands of dollars, and now it's all below $1K.  The guys who cheated were salting away thousands and still remained competitive with $4-5K in reported sales.  What is different now?

[suebee12]

38 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

You are selling food from a truck in one of the hottest places in the US.  It occurs to no one to make drinks?  Drinks with ice?

I am pretty sure that I saw bottles of water in ice when one of the teams opened up the side of the truck to start selling...I have already deleted the show but I bet we will catch it again at some point.

[LexieLily]

8 hours ago, meep.meep said:

I hope we get an explanation for why in the early years the trucks were making thousands of dollars, and now it's all below $1K.  The guys who cheated were salting away thousands and still remained competitive with $4-5K in reported sales.  What is different now?

There were guys that cheated? When? How?

[meep.meep]

I think it was the third season.  Three quarters of the way through the season, they found that one truck was cheating and sent them packing.

[suebee12]

2 hours ago, meep.meep said:

I think it was the third season.  Three quarters of the way through the season, they found that one truck was cheating and sent them packing.

I just checked and it was SEASON 2. Korilla BBQ – (New York) serves Korean grill and barbecue. They were disqualified in week 5 in Memphis, Tennessee after they were caught adding $2700 of their own money to the cash box.

 

I went to Wikipedia to check and realized what a good show this used to be! If you have some extra time, check out what used to be involved. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Great_Food_Truck_Race_episodes Remember the "Speed Bumps" and Hodge Podge? Remember when a team had to pay for the damage they caused by hitting a pole? And just check out how much money they made at each Truck Stop. It was such a good show in the beginning!

[Whimsy]

On 8/5/2018 at 5:02 PM, meep.meep said:

I hope we get an explanation for why in the early years the trucks were making thousands of dollars, and now it's all below $1K.  The guys who cheated were salting away thousands and still remained competitive with $4-5K in reported sales.  What is different now?

Because that season had well established, well known trucks with pretty big social media followers. These people are nobodies. I also am thinking they didn’t separate out whatever they had left for seed money in the past. 

[bluepiano]

4 hours ago, Whimsy said:

Because that season had well established, well known trucks with pretty big social media followers. These people are nobodies. I also am thinking they didn’t separate out whatever they had left for seed money in the past. 

The seasons with actual professional food trucks are way more interesting than the seasons with clueless wannabes, like this one. And if they've never had a food truck, they should at least be making some dynamite food. Heroes on a Half Shell were both clueless about running a food truck and couldn't think of anything better to make than a tuna melt. Twice.  (In Vegas heat? Yuck). How in the heck did they get on this show. (I got the "Heroes on a Half Shell" reference to Ninja Turtles, but not that their food concept was hero sandwiches.)

On ‎8‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 8:07 AM, Writing Wrongs said:

That New England woman's screeching voice would turn me off from approaching their truck.

Nails on a chalk board. And she doesn't cook, so drumming up business is supposed to be her contribution. I guess their food has been good, but she's a big liability.

The Moo Shu women seem to be winning this thing solely on the basis of being pleasant and not scaring away customers. But Tyler told them to focus on their "moo shu" concept but they have yet to actually make a moo shu dish.

Pretty bad season so far. Nothing about the actual business of running a food truck. They just find a place to park and then accost potential customers, sometimes one at a time.  In the real food truck world (and there are battalions of them in my city) I have NEVER seen anyone standing on the street acting like a carnival barker to get customers. So then what really is the concept of this show? 

Edited August 7, 2018 by bluepiano

[LexieLily]

6 hours ago, bluepiano said:

Pretty bad season so far. Nothing about the actual business of running a food truck. They just find a place to park and then accost potential customers, sometimes one at a time.  In the real food truck world (and there are battalions of them in my city) I have NEVER seen anyone standing on the street acting like a carnival barker to get customers. So then what really is the concept of this show? 

They all do it but the New England truck are the worst. If this was real life and not TV I assumed we would see everybody running away from the truck and even a few people getting out their phones to call the cops if anyone came up to them and practically shoved a container of food in my face and demanded I buy it.

[eel2178]

On ‎8‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 3:02 PM, meep.meep said:

I hope we get an explanation for why in the early years the trucks were making thousands of dollars, and now it's all below $1K.  The guys who cheated were salting away thousands and still remained competitive with $4-5K in reported sales.  What is different now?

It looked as though they were only given 8 hours of selling time in Las Vegas (4 hours each day). In older episodes they had two or even three full days of selling time.

[Simon47]

Christine from New England Grill - Her voice is awful. And I want something more than just New England.

Marla from Buns & Thighs is pretty quiet. Idk why. I like her.

Sharon looks familiar.

Heroes on a Halfshell - I did not get the name at all.

[eel2178]

2 hours ago, Simon47 said:

Heroes on a Halfshell - I did not get the name at all.

It would have made more sense if they were serving open-faced heroes.

[Amarsir]

On 8/7/2018 at 7:09 PM, eel2178 said:

It looked as though they were only given 8 hours of selling time in Las Vegas (4 hours each day). In older episodes they had two or even three full days of selling time.

That's more interesting to me, because not only do you get bigger numbers but you also have issues like resupplying. The biggest tactical decision we've seen so far was figuring out they shouldn't have spent all $500 on 3 hours of food in the first episode. (Which seemingly no one did anyway, because they have no experience.)

[Skyfall]

On 8/5/2018 at 5:02 PM, meep.meep said:

You are selling food from a truck in one of the hottest places in the US.  It occurs to no one to make drinks?  Drinks with ice?

Why would anyone go buy a tuna sandwich from a food truck?  You can make it at home, in air conditioned splendor (in Las Vegas anyway).  It's bland non-exciting food.  They couldn't even make a shrimp sandwich when it was handed to them.

I hope we get an explanation for why in the early years the trucks were making thousands of dollars, and now it's all below $1K.  The guys who cheated were salting away thousands and still remained competitive with $4-5K in reported sales.  What is different now?

They are doing gross profit now and not total profit. Also they used to have several days and had to restock while out in the city, now none of that is in play probably because they probably can’t get a deal to show the same chain every episode anymore. I miss the speed bumps, and other challenges. Hell even the stupid race to sell X items to race to get a prize (usually money to go in the till). They’re really going through the motions now.

[MajorWoody]

On 8/3/2018 at 1:01 AM, LittleIggy said:

Twelve dollars for less than half a po-boy? Uh, no!

 

That tiny half sandwich was all bread, and about three shrimp, for $12. That’s a big no to any potential customer, even more so with that screeching lady trying to rope you in. 

On 8/3/2018 at 11:07 AM, Writing Wrongs said:

That New England woman's screeching voice would turn me off from approaching their truck.

I get Heroes On The Half Shell's idea of scooping out the bread for more filling, but if Tuna Melt is all you got, then no thanks. There are endless ideas for sandwiches. How did they even get on this show?

 The same way most everyone gets on FN shows these days. Either look weird, act weird, or preferably to the producers, both.

Not sad to see the sideshow methhead tattoo freak leave, but I have to say: those tuna melts seen on the griddle were the most soggy, decrepit looking sammiches I have seen in a long time. They were nauseating looking, even before taking into consideration the Vegas heat. 

Edited August 14, 2018 by MajorWoody