The Great Food Truck Race - General Discussion

[bluepiano]

12 hours ago, tinkerbell said:

 

Edited July 9 by bluepiano

[bluepiano]

12 hours ago, tinkerbell said:

No explanation of where they got groceries. They have to serve snapper - how did they magically have all the ingredients to create a dish?

This has been going on for a long time on this show. The exact ingredients needed for a challenge magically appear. I'm also wondering about the taco truck running out of meat. How did that happen? Since they eliminated the shopping aspect of the show we have no idea what's going on in terms of supplies.

 

7 hours ago, eel2178 said:

Even worse: the complainer on the empanada truck doesn't tie her hair back when she's cooking. 

And lots of scraggly, unkempt beards that I wouldn't want to see on someone cooking for me. Well, the guy on CWP, one of the worst offenders, is gone, but several others remain.

Is it going to another waffle truck winning? I think they have a big advantage because they have an item that immediately distinguishes them from all the other trucks, who are cooking savory dishes. So in a sense they have no real competition, which is why the waffle trucks do so well.

As in every season, the trucks are mostly making overly complicated dishes that would take too much in the real world of food trucks. And in the real world, I've never seen a food truck specializing in fish, because of how quickly fish can spoil and become unsafe to eat. As well as not be especially appetizing in terms of smell to eat outdoors on a hot day. Shrimp tacos, yes, but not plated fish entrees.

 

Edited July 9 by bluepiano

[HappyDancex2]

I wish the Filipino truck would have stayed around.  Would have been nice to see if there were any variations besides lumpia and pancit and the ubiquitous side of banana ketchup.

So the waffle trucks have won a lot in past seasons?  It was the one truck I got to taste when the GFTR rolled thru my city and it wasn’t the truck of my choice for sure.  I prefer savory.  There were no cameras rolling that moment and the food was soggy and uninspiring.  I was planning on tipping big because at least during those seasons tips were considered part of the till but the food was so lackluster and the owners were so meh that I wasn’t compelled.

[Colorado David]

agreed with happydance. i dont think food truck when i am craving a dessert, for me food trucks are always lunch-type stuff. maybe snack type stuff.

[Starry-Eyed]

On 7/7/2024 at 11:43 PM, Ancaster said:

I haven't really been paying attention, but can you explain how splitting $800 between two teams = adding $200 per till?  Thanks.

...because they are splitting it between 4 teams. Stripes is the name of the squad. There are (were) four teams on the Stripes squad, one of which is Fishmarket, who won the challenge for the whole squad.

[Starry-Eyed]

The guy from the Po boy truck is driving me nuts. He wants to paint his partner as a nagging shrew who won't leave him alone, but the reality seems to be that she is a decisive leader type who is accurately assessing the situations he doesn't want to deal with.

Tyler seems so desperate to start drama between trucks (and it is starting to feel like the entire point of the squads is to create drama), probably because the challenges are so boring.

[chessiegal]

7 hours ago, Starry-Eyed said:

Tyler seems so desperate to start drama between trucks

Tyler is the host, not a producer. If any drama is being produced (pun intended), it's being done by the producers.

[Starry-Eyed]

3 hours ago, chessiegal said:

Tyler is the host, not a producer. If any drama is being produced (pun intended), it's being done by the producers.

Maybe I'm wrong, but even if he's not technically a producer, Tyler seems to hold a lot of sway over the production. I'm not saying Tyler designed the "squad" system - I'm sure that was the producers - but I doubt Tyler has to stir the pot at eliminations if he doesn't want to.

[chessiegal]

Until I see Tyler's name listed as producer, he's there for his purddy face and to collect a paycheck.

[HappyDancex2]

Tyler lost me when he said something to the effect of “if you had said that to me you would have needed to apologize….is there any apology that you want to make?”  I mean that’s so presumptuous to verbalize what would have been insensitive to your sensitive pearl clutching heart LOL.  I could not have laughed harder when that guy said “nah.”  😂😂😂

I mean he called it a shitshow…this show IS a shitshow or it’s just us watching them drive around and sell food we can’t taste.  Plus who knew he had sticking his finger in some Nutella waiting for us later….it’s a shitshow fest!

it’s been awhile since I’ve seen Tyler on a show.  He’s actually less annoying than he was in the earliest of seasons.  IMO.  Just a small thing that I’ve always found annoying is the abrupt staccato way he announces the losing team at the end and snaps his little book shut.  He would ruin top chef by speed saying PYKAG with no feeling or inflection.  LOL 

[bluepiano]

1 hour ago, HappyDancex2 said:

Tyler lost me when he said something to the effect of “if you had said that to me you would have needed to apologize….is there any apology that you want to make?”  I mean that’s so presumptuous to verbalize what would have been insensitive to your sensitive pearl clutching heart LOL.  I could not have laughed harder when that guy said “nah.”  😂😂

When he started with, "if you had said that to me" I expected him to finish with "I'd have punched your lights out." But I guess that's not Tyler's style. Everyone seems to be casting the Turkish dude as this seasons' villain, but I gained a lot of respect for him for not being intimidated by Tyler into making an apology he didn't feel. I think pretty much every contest they've ever had on this show would have done that. I'm actually starting to like the guy.

 

On 7/9/2024 at 6:17 AM, Colorado David said:

agreed with happydance. i dont think food truck when i am craving a dessert, for me food trucks are always lunch-type stuff. maybe snack type stuff.

I agree as well. If there was an event with multiple food trucks they might have a waffle trip so that after their main meal people could get desert. But I can only see a waffle truck as being successful in that situation. 

Edited July 11 by bluepiano

[CrazyInAlabama]

(They've gone to 1 hour episodes now) This week for Episode 3, they move to Lake Charles, LA with:

Team 1-Stripes Squad- Wally's Waffles,  Argentina Empanada, Fishnet.

Team 2-Star Squad-Plates on Deck, Sola Po'Boys,  Bao Bei, Down to Get Tacos.

The free sell, but have locals judging "contraband entrees", meaning they have to pilfer one item each from the other food trucks, and they have to use the pilfered item in their entree.     $500 to the winning team for their till.  This sounds ridiculous, and only for causing issues.  "Pirates' from Lake Charles will judge the entrees.  

Team 1- Stripes-Wally's team idea is to only steal food items from the rival team.  But while pilfering, the Stripes team cross contaminate the milk / seafood/ pork and other meat.  Plates on Deck truck crew are totally disgusted with the first challenge, and aren't even trying, but later he realizes he overreacted.  Love on a Plate can't compete on the first challenge. 

Wally's Waffle truck had all of their waffle ingredients taken, and have to close to go shopping.  They sped to Walmart and back in 15 minutes, and people waited in line.   I find it nasty of the other trucks to take everything from Wally's because they won the last two weeks.    

They won't announce the winner of this challenge until they announce the Elimination challege winner.    For the elimination challenge they can either sell, or go on a treasure hunt.   

The team that contaminated the Love on a Plate meat with cross contamination was Wally's

Contraband entrees challenge winner: Bao Bei, winning $500. 

Elimination challenge winners:   1. Plates on Deck 2. Bao Bei 3. Wally's Waffles 4. Fishnet 5. (Pirate Challenge Winner) Argentina's Empanadas 6. Sola Po'Boys

Truck that goes home is:Down to Get Tacos

 

Next week on to  Biloxi , with six  teams left.  

Team 1-Stripes Squad- Wally's Waffles,  Argentina Empanada, Fishnet.

Team 2-Star Squad-Plates on Deck, Sola Po'Boys,  Bao Bei.

 

I'm very disappointed with this season.   The stealing the leading food trucks ingredients was disgusting, it was as bad as the relay race at the baseball field with very few people actually getting to sample the food.   The entire team concept is bad.  

Edited July 15 by CrazyInAlabama

[LexieLily]

The final two are going to be one truck from each "squad," aren't they?

[HappyDancex2]

Well that was awkward.   Watching Plates take the fast track to overwhelm isn’t great TV for me.  I don’t care if they won or not.

Tyler was just too accusatory on the reveal of the waffle guys being the milk perps.  Unless the editing was so bad it seemed clear it was a rushed accident,  based on a stupid challenge parameter lol.  Let’s not all get twisted about hygiene standards on a food truck run by amateurs!

The taco truck continuing to make and sell too many dishes when they should have been forcing customers to choose the options to win the challenge is just bad game play.

Also Bao Bei still doesn’t have a consistent bao on their menu.  No Bao Bei

[cameron]

Thinking the whole milk issue was  manufactured drama on the part of the food channel.  Very disappointed in that.

[Salacious Kitty]

I think Wally's spilled it but in their rush didn't realize it. 

[lavenderblue]

Weird conflicts between different parties each episode. I guess this is how they've decided to avoid a repeat of last year's season-long Khana fiasco while still incorporating ~~~~~~drama~~~~~. You know what's really compelling, producers? Shopping. I was so optimistic for like three seconds when Wally's left to restock, then they were back to the truck before my thought even had a chance to complete itself.

I don't think this season is as bad as last, but it's also not something I look forward to watching much at this point.

[Colorado David]

1 hour ago, lavenderblue said:

I don't think this season is as bad as last, but it's also not something I look forward to watching much at this point.

Agreed. I am not really rooting for anyone - several teams have members I do not like their attitude. Plates, I dont care if you have anger issues - the one guy sabatogued the whole team by throwing that pork out.  If you need to vent, find a trashcan to go punch or kick over, or some reasonable outlet. Again wasting perfectly good food, these guys get no sympathy from me at all. And you made your teammate (wife? gf?) cry, and that's just not acceptable, she seemed genuinely upset unless my acting radar skills are way off. 

The wally guys seem like the type who would come clean if they realized they had spilled the milk. Maybe when he shut the door it knocked the milk over? I think a classier move would have been for Tyler to show them the video before hand and give them a chance to apologize to Plates personally than calling wally out in front of everyone and generate  potential bad feelings from the other teams.  And an even classier move would have been for the friggin producers to replace the seafood, if it was in fact a genuine accident. If they wanted to they could have charged the wally team out of their till for the replacement seafood as a punishment.

Bao bao bao....you guys while seeming nice just arent endearing to me at all. I just pretty much feel neutral to you all, while the other teams as i said have at least one negative member each.

I am going back to watch previous seasons, as they were more enjoyable.

[Salacious Kitty]

Plates shouldn't have had milk next to seafood in the first place. Put them on different shelves at minimum. It looked like both were on the bottom rack. Put the seafood on the upper shelf ( I saw two shelves in the fridge). 

[mlp]

That whole milk bit was mishandled all around.  Tyler was a jerk about it.  I don't think the waffle guys realized they'd knocked it over and the Plates guy overreacted big time.  It looked like very little time elapsed between the "foraging" nonsense and the teams returning to their own trucks to cook.  All he had to do was rinse the seafood, pat it dry and cook it.  It wasn't like it had been sitting in milk for hours.  

The squad thing continues to annoy me no end.  I suppose the producers thought it would add something new to the show but it makes no practical sense.  Just let them rise or fall on their own merits.

[Grizzly]

And how did Plates sell the most when they didn't have any ingredients once everything got thrown out?

[Colorado David]

22 minutes ago, Grizzly said:

And how did Plates sell the most when they didn't have any ingredients once everything got thrown out?

i think they said they only tossed the pork, unless i misheard. so they still had whatever else they foraged. and their usual truck stuff that hadnt been swiped. :) 

 

[tinkerbell]

The pillaging is ridiculous. No explanation of the rules. Did they have to take all of an ingredient? Or just a certain portion?  Plus, with a time limit for stealing, and Tyler yelling, " one more minute!" Something being spilled was inevitable. 

I get that if fish leaked on milk, it would be a huge safety issue. But milk spilled near fish? Really? What exactly was the issue? And how is accidentally spilling some milk , not even realizing it, considered disrespectful?  And the guy who made such a big deal about it, throws out a different ingredient and tells his team to get over it.

And again, no info on how they stocked the trucks. One team ran out of ingredients and had to go shopping. But how did all the teams have all their ingredients the next morning? As others have posted, past seasons included showing the teams having a fixed budget and having to decide what to buy/serve. This season, we don't know about a budget or how they shop.

Edited July 16 by tinkerbell

[Salacious Kitty]

Given their impressive totals this leg, I expect that all the teams had multiple shops that they didn't show. 

[Maya]

Regarding the pillaging rules: apparently they had to use up/serve all the ingredients that they stole? Bao bei was concerned their fried pork rolls were stuffed too full to cook through, but it seemed like they had no choice. I have no idea.  

Edited July 16 by Maya

[eel2178]

13 hours ago, tinkerbell said:

I get that if fish leaked on milk, it would be a huge safety issue. But milk spilled near fish? Really? What exactly was the issue? And how is accidentally spilling some milk , not even realizing it, considered disrespectful?  And the guy who made such a big deal about it, throws out a different ingredient and tells his team to get over it.

Apparently, it is a total necessity and an absolute obligation to cry over spilled milk! Who knew the old adage has been wrong for centuries?

[jcbrown]

I hope Plates goes home next. That guy's jerky behavior about the milk totally turned me off.

[Colorado David]

I am watching season 11, the weird one that had all the snow locations. Also only 4 episodes for the entire season!! Seemed like a one-off idea to do it in the snowy climes. Musta been a dud in the ratings.

[SevenCostanza]

3 hours ago, Colorado David said:

I am watching season 11, the weird one that had all the snow locations. Also only 4 episodes for the entire season!! Seemed like a one-off idea to do it in the snowy climes. Musta been a dud in the ratings.

I hated that season, it was so stupid.  Who wants to stand outside in the snow and eat from a food truck?  Not to mention by the time the people got their food it was probably cold.

[Colorado David]

exactly. i would not venture out into those snowy places for any food truck regardless of how great the food is. give me a nice warm cozy restaurant with a pleasant atmosphere and just mediocre food and I'd be happy as a snoozing pup. 

[Mondrianyone]

I live in northern New England. All the food trucks up here close for the winter season and reopen when it warms up again. So the whole premise was absurd.

[mlp]

7 hours ago, Colorado David said:

I am watching season 11, the weird one that had all the snow locations. Also only 4 episodes for the entire season!! Seemed like a one-off idea to do it in the snowy climes. Musta been a dud in the ratings.

If you want to watch much worse, look for the Alaska season.  It had it all - snow, ice, sub-zero temperatures, frostbite.  It was awful.

[MartyQui]

Plates guy going on and on about hygiene and food safety while his partner had all that hair hanging in the food.  I can’t wait for one of the customers to pull a long black hair out of a sandwich.

[tinkerbell]

5 hours ago, MartyQui said:

Plates guy going on and on about hygiene and food safety while his partner had all that hair hanging in the food.  I can’t wait for one of the customers to pull a long black hair out of a sandwich.

I agree. Even if I'm cooking for just myself and my husband, my hair is tied back.

[YupItsMe]

I’m from Lake Charles, there’s no way they made it to WM and back in 30 minutes, much less did any shopping.

(I am just getting around to watching this episode)

[CrazyInAlabama]

On to  Biloxi, with six  teams left.  Episode 4.  "Highway Robbery"

Mississippi Comeback Sauce (mayo based chili sauce) served on a protein, everything is independent of the teams, and Tyler is the judge for this round. Tyler's not happy with Plates on Deck dish, a small crab cake dish for $25.   The team members fighting is disgusting, especially the nasty fight on the Empanadas truck.   Customers are complaining about the Empanadas prices, and the almost 2 hour wait for food. Tyler says $10 for an empanada is too much.  Customers love the Bao Bei food, but they charge $15 for the dish.  The Fishnet team member says skip the challenge food, comeback special which could double the daily till for the challenge.  Wally's Waffles are slow. Paola on the Empanda truck is doing a sit down strike, and refusing to cook.   Waffle truck is still sticking to the waffle irons, but they figured it out. 

Day Two-Stripes Squad move to a new location.  Stars Squad move too, staying parked together.  Unfortunately, both teams end up at beach parking.  Today's challenge is Shrimp, change a dish to shrimp.  One of the truck members on Fishnet truck is deathly allergic to shrimp and can't touch them, so the team members agree to not do this challenge either.   Fishnet is getting complaints about their price for catfish.  The other teams can't open until the entire allotment of shrimp are peeled and deveined. Because Fishnet isn't doing the shrimp challenge, they open a lot quicker.  I'm tired of hearing the bickering among the teams, and Empanada's team members fighting and making nasty remarks about the other teams. 

Tyler rips the teams for their ridiculous prices, and I agree with him.  SoLa, Wally's and Fishnet were way overpriced. 

Results: #1 Argentina's Empanadas, #2 Bao Bei (from winning the challenges on top of sales) , #3 Fishnet, #4  Wally's Waffles, #5 Sola,  and eliminated team #6 Plates on Deck  (Bao Bei won both day's challenges, and their special till are doubled). 

I don't see how skipping the challenges is allowed.   I was stunned that people would wait in line for two hours to get a hideously overpriced entre from any of the trucks.  Tyler was angry about the ridiculous overcharges, but the same teams still finished high in the total tills. 

 

 

Next week Episode 5 "Attack of the Tag Teams" at the usual time. 

From Food Network: Tyler Florence brings in All Elite Wrestling tag teams The Acclaimed and The Gunns to join the food trucks in Pascagoula, Mississippi, for an all-out brawl. One team thinks they're being clever by sitting out on Tyler's challenge, but they soon come to regret their choices.

 

Teams will be: 

Stripes Squad- Wally's Waffles,  Argentina Empanada, Fishnet.

Stars Squad-Sola Po'Boys,  Bao Bei.

This show is one of the few appearing on schedule during the Olympics.    

 

Edited July 22 by CrazyInAlabama

[LexieLily]

How did Bao Bei move from bottom two to the top two solely based on the challenge wins? 

The wife from the empanada truck sounds exhausting. 

[Maya]

Have we ever had this many dysfunctional teams in one season? Maybe if you hate your spouse don’t work in a tiny hot truck with them. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

12 hours ago, LexieLily said:

How did Bao Bei move from bottom two to the top two solely based on the challenge wins? 

The wife from the empanada truck sounds exhausting. 

The challenge wins added $500 to the tills of the winning trucks, and Bao Bei won both.    Fishnet didn't do either challenge, the shrimp one I can understand, because one team member is deathly allergic to shrimp, and they would have to be one team member down, and totally sterilize the truck before he could come back inside.    Fishnet just wanted a jump start on sales by not doing the other challenge.    I think the shrimp challenge skip was acceptable, but skipping the sauce challenge on day 1 is just cheating.   

I was disgusted at the sit down strike for the empanadas truck.   

[GiandujaPie]

I think the prices are too high too but since it appears that the only thing taken into consideration for elimination is total sales, how can you fault the trucks for setting prices so high, especially if there are people who are willing to pay? Is the total till their net revenue or gross revenue? 

[eel2178]

2 hours ago, GiandujaPie said:

I think the prices are too high too but since it appears that the only thing taken into consideration for elimination is total sales, how can you fault the trucks for setting prices so high, especially if there are people who are willing to pay? Is the total till their net revenue or gross revenue? 

I pretty sure that these are actors who are being paid to patronize the trucks and offer an opinion on camera. I find it really hard to believe that so many people would hang around as long as they had to in order to pay cash for so little food.

Maybe I'm deluding myself, but I would think anyone who had just a little common sense would just walk away and find food elsewhere. They also seem to be selling in preselected locations that don't have any competition from other food establishment. This show is too staged.

[eel2178]

4 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

I was disgusted at the sit down strike for the empanadas truck.   

Between the health code violations and the childish behavior, they can't leave soon enough for me.

[vmarsissmart]

So Bao Bei is overpriced but charging 10 bucks less than the other overpriced trucks. They are in last but because they won the challenges survive elimination.  Also why cast a truck concept that you know can't really function properly under the competition restrictions, unless you are going to give them the proper prep time to make the bao dough and let it rise outside of selling hours it seems stupid to chastise them for not making real bao.  

 

Also the prices on the all-star season were way worse than this.  Unless you are going to make them properly value their food you can't blame them for over charging in a selling competition.  

[eel2178]

4 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

 Fishnet just wanted a jump start on sales by not doing the other challenge.    I think the shrimp challenge skip was acceptable, but skipping the sauce challenge on day 1 is just cheating.   

Their attitude has been "I'm taking my ball, and I'm going home." Why sign up for a competition show if you aren't interested in participating in the competition? 

[lavenderblue]

I thought both spouses(?) on the empanada truck were horrible. The wife was immature but in her defense, I wouldn't generally react well to the language he was hurling at her, either. Naturally they won.

I didn't get Fishnet's strategy to skip the first challenge. If any truck might've been justified in that call it would've been Wally's, but if they could make it work on a mostly sweet-oriented menu, Fishnet certainly could have spared a few minutes to whip up a sauce and add it some variation of one of their existing concepts.

[GiandujaPie]

22 minutes ago, lavenderblue said:

I thought both spouses(?) on the empanada truck were horrible. The wife was immature but in her defense, I wouldn't generally react well to the language he was hurling at her, either. Naturally they won.

I didn't get Fishnet's strategy to skip the first challenge. If any truck might've been justified in that call it would've been Wally's, but if they could make it work on a mostly sweet-oriented menu, Fishnet certainly could have spared a few minutes to whip up a sauce and add it some variation of one of their existing concepts.

All Fishnet had to do was whip up a sauce and then drizzle it over their fish tacos. It was something they were selling anyway. Was their regular sauce that great or something? 

[meep.meep]

6 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

The challenge wins added $500 to the tills of the winning trucks, and Bao Bei won both.    Fishnet didn't do either challenge, the shrimp one I can understand, because one team member is deathly allergic to shrimp, and they would have to be one team member down, and totally sterilize the truck before he could come back inside.    Fishnet just wanted a jump start on sales by not doing the other challenge.    I think the shrimp challenge skip was acceptable, but skipping the sauce challenge on day 1 is just cheating.   

I thought the rules for the shrimp challenge said that all members of the team had to help with the peeling.  So they literally couldn't do that one.

[Salacious Kitty]

47 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

I thought the rules for the shrimp challenge said that all members of the team had to help with the peeling.  So they literally couldn't do that one.

I don't remember a rule being stated that all team members had to participate. It was just assumed they would to get the task done faster. 

Fishnet was screwed from the outset with this challenge. Didn't production check for allergies? That's a pretty glaring oversight.

[Pepper the Cat]

I thought the elimination was a little abrupt. 
I am wondering if Plates did something we did not see that caused them to be eliminated 

[MartyQui]

I noticed that the empanada truck was using premade wrappers…no more dough drama, I guess, so there had to be relationship drama again.

One long loose hair offender is gone, can’t wait for the others.  I can’t believe Tyler never says anything about that!  But he was right to call them out on prices this week…they should just put a $15 top limit on prices. I’m in Boston, and that’s the most I’ve ever paid at a food truck.