The Great Food Truck Race - General Discussion

[Andyourlittledog2]

1 hour ago, tinkerbell said:

one thing missing from this season is the teams buying food.  TYler gave them a challenge, and they just happen to have all the ingredients they need to make a completely new dish.  Maybe they're not shopping themselves, maybe a tv crew is providing the groceries, but I wish they would show how the teams are getting their supplies

Yeah, it seemed pretty weird that Sugar just happened to have at least ten quail eggs ready to go. I forget what else she had but it also seemed unlikely.

I think they are skipping that part because they have almost twice as many food trucks this season to start with and don't have enough air time to show it. Add the snowflake drama and they are just out of time.

[chessiegal]

1 hour ago, tinkerbell said:

one thing missing from this season is the teams buying food.  TYler gave them a challenge, and they just happen to have all the ingredients they need to make a completely new dish.  Maybe they're not shopping themselves, maybe a tv crew is providing the groceries, but I wish they would show how the teams are getting their supplies. 

Might be COVID, reducing chances for exposure.

[emmawoodhouse]

3 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Might be COVID, reducing chances for exposure.

No, because they showed Amawele's in the store complaining about the store not having the right spices. They said they ended up at a specialty shop.

[hatchetgirl]

On 6/28/2022 at 2:08 PM, LoreliLee said:

There was a lot of location shenanigans in the last show. On the most recent episode only had the talking heads & team recaps/totals on the Redondo pier. All the food truck sales took place in Venice Beach. I recognized all the locations/streets the last two episodes took place at. Wonder why they faked the location as being in Redondo? Maybe they couldn't get permits or permissions to sell in Redondo? If anyone knows let US know.

That's how it was in Laguna.  My hubby was born and raised and there is no jetty in the background in Laguna.  I just looked and they were at Corona Del Mar parking lot.  That's lame.  

[LexieLily]

The "secret judges' might as well have worn name tags calling themselves out as secret judges. Coming in a pack of three and each ordering a different one of the special dishes? Maybe Cheese Born With It/Sugar were also remarkably toned down when the 'secret judges' came around, almost like they'd been told they needed to be on their best professional behavior. There wasn't any screeching from Sugar about wanting to buy mac and cheese from a drag queen, or dragging them to the truck.

How did it take the owner of the residential complex almost two hours to notice two food trucks (Southern Pride Asian Fusion and Senoreatas) parked out on the street?

Edited July 4, 2022 by LexieLily

[Grizzly]

I liked the idea of secret judges but agree with LexieLily that they couldn't have been more obvious. At least move away from the food truck before filming the critique. The challenge did help ESO out so was happy for that. Did the teams not get a second day of selling? That might have saved the Southern boys. Seeing the other teams get so emotional at elimination got to me. 

[Maverick]

Those judges were about as secret as Liberace's being gay.

"I'm wondering why we're still here".   Honey, you ain't the only one.  At least we were spared Tyler blatantly propping them this week.  I'm surprised he didn't have a team of coveralled mechanics run out in unison like an Indy pit crew to repaid the mechanical failures.   I actually feel sorry for the other two hostages, er "team" members who are apparently indentured servants on the "There Are Only I's in Mac n Cheese" truck.

 So humus and some cut up veggies won the volleyball challenge?  Seriously?  I don't know if that's better or worse than Ants on a Log winning.  Which again, seriously?   You have a truck with artisanal in the name and you represent yourself with Ants on a Log?   I don't care if it sounds tin foil hatty, I wouldn't be surprised if the challenges were tinkered around with because if Southern Pride had won anything they would haver bumped Sugar Ross and Those Other Two Singers No One Cares About Fine Call Them the Supremes If You Want off the show.

[Chyromaniac]

3 hours ago, LexieLily said:

How did it take the owner of the residential complex almost two hours to notice two food trucks (Southern Pride Asian Fusion and Senoreatas) parked out on the street?

I think it was a manager, not an owner.  My assumption is that they probably have a property management firm, and that’s who that person works for.  I’d also guess that at some point, a resident called in a complaint to the company (maybe the trucks were using street parking designated for residents’ vehicles), and that she had to come over from an offsite office to deal with it.  That could easily take a couple of hours - depending on how far away it is, and when she first heard there was an issue.

6 minutes ago, Maverick said:

I wouldn't be surprised if the challenges were tinkered around with because if Southern Pride had won anything they would haver bumped Sugar

I don’t think that’s the case.  It sounded to me like Amawele winning the volleyball challenge (not to mention $400 from the international challenge) boosted them from last to first, and that’s why Southern Pride went home.  As such, if Amawele hadn’t won the extra cash, then they would have left.  Regardless, Cheese was 4/6 this week, and not up for elimination.

I agree that the secret shoppers were kind of obvious, especially since we didn’t see any of the trucks doing a ton of business this week.  I don’t know if it really made a huge difference- most of the dishes seemed pretty easy to replicate.  Like, one ladle of curry is as good as another, if it’s all coming out of the same pot.  I’m also curious about whether or not there was a second sales day.  I assume they did, and nothing noteworthy happened- or at least not enough to make a story hook out of it.  Whatever the circumstance, it did seem odd to go from the day 2 challenge, right into elimination.

[HighQueenEB]

Ugh.  I should have realized as soon as we saw the family visit for Southern Pride that they were toast.  Can we not catch a break and see Maybe Cheese go yet?  I don't believe the tease from the editing monkeys that there's a big enough meltdown on that team to see them exit stage right next week.  By the way, both their International Appetizer and International Entree sounded disgusting.  Slapping a Thai slaw or an Indian chicken curry on top of mac & cheese is just a "hell to the no" from me.

At this point - Amawele and their parking arguments have moved them to my "you're annoying, go anytime" column joining Maybe Cheese and Senoreatas who were already there long ago.  That leaves me rooting for Eso, which means they're toast next week.  Sorry, y'all.

Edited July 4, 2022 by HighQueenEB

[Pallida]

5 minutes ago, HighQueenEB said:

Fingers crossed for more taste-based reward challenges! (And I screwed up quotation on my phone - also rooting for ESO)

Edited July 4, 2022 by Pallida
Explaining quote box

[Salacious Kitty]

Sugar and Co. can go home any time now. Sooo annoying. 

The tasters weren't that impressed with Señoreata. I think this was the first critique of their food (other than Tyler?). The sisters of Amawele's are hyper, but they apparently put out good food, so if ESO gets booted, I'll root for them. 

[HighQueenEB]

2 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Sugar and Co. can go home any time now. Sooo annoying. 

The tasters weren't that impressed with Señoreata. I think this was the first critique of their food (other than Tyler?). The sisters of Amawele's are hyper, but they apparently put out good food, so if ESO gets booted, I'll root for them. 

Yeah, Amawele does seem to put out good food pretty consistently, so while they annoyed me this week with the stupid parking fights, I'll root for them if ESO goes like I'm predicting.

[bluepiano]

On 6/28/2022 at 2:08 PM, LoreliLee said:

I grew up in Venice Beach and now have lived in Redondo Beach for many years. There was a lot of location shenanigans in the last show. On the most recent episode only had the talking heads & team recaps/totals on the Redondo pier. All the food truck sales took place in Venice Beach. I recognized all the locations/streets the last two episodes took place.

Wow, thanks for posting, because I lived in Venice Beach years ago and know it well, and there were at least two "Redondo Beach" locations where I said to myself, "hey, that's Venice." But I convinced myself I was wrong, because, I mean, why would they have to fake being in Redondo when it's just a couple of miles down the road?  I thought, well, maybe Redondo has a building with the Venetian style columns you see in Venice, or a Bank of America parking lot that looks just like the one at Pacific and Windward in Venice. So, if they're lying to you about the locations, what else are they lying to you about?

Edited July 4, 2022 by bluepiano

[cameron]

7 hours ago, Grizzly said:

I liked the idea of secret judges but agree with LexieLily that they couldn't have been more obvious. At least move away from the food truck before filming the critique. The challenge did help ESO out so was happy for that. Did the teams not get a second day of selling? That might have saved the Southern boys. Seeing the other teams get so emotional at elimination got to me. 

The one secret judge thought that ratatouille was a high end french dish must not know much about french cooking.  More of a peasant type dish but good none the less.

[Colorado David]

kind of a dud episode. where the heck was ol tyler? no talking head spots from him as usual. the secret judges were duds too, can we not find a secret chef to do the judging? even the dishes seemed low energy and uninspired. meh. and bickering over parking for like 10 minutes straight, this is NOT quality tv to watch.

Edited July 4, 2022 by Colorado David

[jcbrown]

10 hours ago, Maverick said:

Those judges were about as secret as Liberace's being gay.

Please forgive me a momentary diversion: years ago there was a Liberace museum in Vegas. It was a collection of his costumes and pianos and cars and a huge slice of hagiography. The docents were mostly women of a certain age and they--and the museum narrative--were committed to the story that Liberace's personal life was not to be discussed and nothing to see here. 

10 hours ago, HighQueenEB said:

At this point - Amawele and their parking arguments have moved them to my "you're annoying, go anytime" column joining Maybe Cheese and Senoreatas who were already there long ago.  That leaves me rooting for Eso, which means they're toast next week.  Sorry, y'all.

Agreed. Watching them bicker endlessly is not entertaining in the slightest. And Senoreatas are beyond annoying. Maybe Cheese has no creativity whatsoever--take low-rent mac & cheese (propped up by Tyler) and slop a scoop of something on top, whether or not it makes sense or sounds good. Their food is as appealing as their outfits, and I love mac & cheese. No one was any good at describing their food to the "secret" judges. They didn't even list ingredients.

I am also rooting for Eso though I was astonished by their choice to make ants on a log, of all things.

[HyeChaps]

It would be interesting to hear all the scores, before and after the bonuses.

[LexieLily]

10 minutes ago, HyeChaps said:

It would be interesting to hear all the scores, before and after the bonuses.

Amawale's won the volleyball challenge and at least one of the international dish challenges, and I think if that hadn't happened Eso would have won the week? 

[jcbrown]

Just now, LexieLily said:

Amawale's won the volleyball challenge and at least one of the international dish challenges, and I think if that hadn't happened Eso would have won the week? 

Amawale's won the main dish challenge and the volleyball challenge and Eso won the appetizer and dessert challenges. Were the prizes larger for the main dish one than the appetizer and dessert ones? That makes little sense to me.

I agree that I hope to see more food-based challenges instead of only the sales ones.

[Salacious Kitty]

Main course was $400, while appetizer was $300, and dessert $200. The volleyball challenge, which vaulted Amawele's past ESO for first place, was worth $300.

Edited July 4, 2022 by Salacious Kitty

[mlp]

I must have missed something.  I didn't understand why Tyler announced the rankings out of the usual order.

ESO's choice of ants on a log was very strange but I'd still like to see them win.  They seem to be the only team whose main concern is the quality of their food and they act like adults.

I've been sick of Maybe Cheese since the first episode, mostly because of the loud-mouthed spokesman.  I don't like Amawale and the constant bickering between the twins.  The Senoreatas seem to make good food but I can't forgive the lead woman her hair.  I can't decide if it's real or a wig but wearing it like that while working with food is gross.

I agree with everyone who noted that the "secret" judges were glaringly obvious.  

[Salacious Kitty]

There was a scene of the "secret" judges eating at Cheese's truck. In the background, you could see all three team members loitering around outside the truck. Cameras were following the tasters, for crying out loud. I'm sure the Cheese truck knew right away who they were. I imagine it was the same for the other trucks. Are regular customers going to grill the pitch person on ingredients? With a camera in their face? 

So obvious.

[Colorado David]

a weird episode, off the mark. i'm wondering if half the crew were off work for some reason, and the b roll crew was allowed to run with this. 

[Annifran]

At the end of each elimination, the teams are told where the next location will be.  I wonder why they don't use this time to do some research online, everything from using a map to familiarize themselves with the area as well as look for possible parking spots, such as breweries and wineries that have been advantageous in the past, or parks, festivals, stopping areas, etc.  Rather, they seem to drive aimlessly around looking for a place to park.  Perhaps they could make a few phone calls asking for permission to park, unless this is not permitted by the producers?

[Colorado David]

i think they may be blindsided with the next location, so as to prevent this researching ahead. otherwise yes, this is the obvious thing to do. maybe the next location is recorded the same time as when they set out, day one?

a fun thing to do would be take away the social media, and just make em street hustle sales. THAT is old school.

[SevenCostanza]

On 7/4/2022 at 10:32 AM, jcbrown said:

Maybe Cheese has no creativity whatsoever--take low-rent mac & cheese (propped up by Tyler) and slop a scoop of something on top, whether or not it makes sense or sounds good. Their food is as appealing as their outfits, and I love mac & cheese. No one was any good at describing their food to the "secret" judges. They didn't even list ingredients.

Their food looks horrible I can't believe they're still there.   Those cannoli looked like they bought them pre-made and just stuck them on a plate.

[Colorado David]

i like mac n cheese, but i hardly think it's food truck worthy. a cafeteria yes, i would not go to a food truck for that. i expect something a BIT out of the ordinary at least. locally cupbop, does amazing korean style bowls. or the artisian italian.

[roseslg]

Was sad to see Southern Pride go. I thought Maybe Cheese Born With It would get the boot.  I hope ESO can pull it  out. They clearly have the best food. I think they need to up their prices (Amawele too).

Senoreatas can go as well. They are low-key annoying. Like you know they are the kind to constantly remind you that they are plant-based or vegan and judge you for it.

[seacliffsal]

I was sorry to see Southern Pride go home-the having to move locations did them in.  I find the lead Cuban woman annoying (serving HUGE bread sandwiches and then questioning them with "can you believe there's no dairy..." well, gee, unless they are ice cream sandwiches it wouldn't surprise me at all), the Mac and Cheese lead (Sugar) annoying (and Sugar just blithely doesn't care that people have to wait 20-30 minutes to get their orders), and don't like the dysfunctional communication of the South African truck.  So, leading towards the finale it's the Eso truck that I hope wins but think, unfortunately, they just won't have the sales that some of the other trucks seem to get.  

I am glad that they are going somewhere else in Southern California but just feel like this is kind of a blah season.

[xaxat]

No Sugar you are not the boss of the truck.  if Miss Mahogany tells you something is not ready, it's not ready! She's the cook! It also says something that she is willing to push out food she knows is shit.

No way Cheese was roasting chickens and baking cannoli shells in that busted truck. 

The non-twin from Amawale should throw one of the sisters the keys to the truck. Let them do it. I like the team, but that shit's abusive. I also noticed that only the twins are on the logo on their aprons. Yay team!

[Starry-Eyed]

I was expecting some follow-up on the Maybe Cheese Born With It truck. Does the show have on-hand mechanics to do repairs? It feels like repair costs should probably come out of their till... I don't know enough about driving a food truck to ascertain how much of what happened was poor driving and how much was plain old bad luck

[bluepiano]

On 7/3/2022 at 11:09 PM, HighQueenEB said:

By the way, both their International Appetizer and International Entree sounded disgusting.  Slapping a Thai slaw or an Indian chicken curry on top of mac & cheese is just a "hell to the no" from me.
 

Totally agree. I think the other trucks all were true to the spirit of the challenge and tried making something different from their usual dishes, but Cheese Born still made mac and cheese. I wish Tyler had called them out for that. 

Sorry to see Southern Pride go. Their food seemed consistently good, and there was no drama or complaining. Of all the trucks, they seemed the most professional, and were probably the most likely candidate to actually run a successful food truck business.

12 hours ago, seacliffsal said:

I find the lead Cuban woman annoying (serving HUGE bread sandwiches and then questioning them with "can you believe there's no dairy..." well, gee, unless they are ice cream sandwiches it wouldn't surprise me at all)

I'm definitely tired of her talking about how amazing her food is, and then wanted to be graded on a curve because its vegan. I know that "I Sugar" has a lot of ego, but I think the leader of Senoratas has even more. The whole team seems pretty arrogant and full of attitude. I remember one of the other women saying when they parked near Eso, "Now so we can show them how it's done."

Edited July 7, 2022 by bluepiano

[bluepiano]

On 7/4/2022 at 4:10 AM, cameron said:

The one secret judge thought that ratatouille was a high end French dish must not know much about French cooking.  More of a peasant type dish but good none the less.

I caught that too. In fact, the key scene in the movie "Ratatouille" was when the snooty food critic because emotionally overwhelmed because he was served ratatouille and it took him back to his peasant childhood. In general I was underwhelmed by the "judges," whose comments were on the level of "this is really good," when they weren't name dropping about the foreign countries they've eaten in. It was a reminder that you don't need any credentials or special expertise to be a "food blogger."

[Lisapooh]

It has been driving me crazy to try and figure out who the Senoreata woman and that bulbous halo of hair reminds me. It finally hit me—it's pick ax murderer Karla Faye Tucker! 

[Colorado David]

10 hours ago, bluepiano said:

 In general I was underwhelmed by the "judges," whose comments were on the level of "this is really good," when they weren't name dropping about the foreign countries they've eaten in. It was a reminder that you don't need any credentials or special expertise to be a "food blogger."

agreed, i give no creedence to these judges. criminy you had Tim Love judging beef in an earlier season episode, and now we're down to no names? get a name in there as an authority, not jim bob up the street.

[LoreliLee]

Well here we go again with the location shenanigans on this show. All the food sales took place in Westchester on Sepulveda Blvd except for Senorita's (sic), who were selling in Playa Del Rey (near the local fave Salerno Beach restaurant). Only the talking heads & the volleyball challenge were in Manhattan Beach. 
I also think Southern Pride was robbed & the Cheese Whizzes can leave my screen anytime. Those judges were totally lame. 

[whinewithwine]

On 6/15/2022 at 3:52 PM, Pepper the Cat said:

Didn’t Tyler used to go to each truck and taste their specials? He doesn’t seem to be doing that now. I would love to see him try the food more.

If only he would shut his mouth when eating.

[LexieLily]

Mac and Cheese and Senoreatas went one and two in sales despite both of the trucks taking forty-five to fifty minutes to get out orders. I'd love to know how that happened. (I'd also be curious to know how MSBWI/Senoreatas went 1/2 in the dune buggy race when they crashed into each other.) Their innovative special dish on day two sounded like a disaster - basic mac and cheese on a BLT with crushed Doritos smashed on the bun? I wonder how many customers threw that in the garbage.

ESO looked like the only professional team this week: a Senoreatas customer said she went there twice and ordered food twice before coming back to the Senoreatas truck to wait.

Edited July 11, 2022 by LexieLily

[Grizzly]

Maybe Senoritas flashing bra helped them get sales. Geez, you didn't see any of the other teams getting naked. ESO looked positively cool and drama free. I was devastated that they were in the bottom 2. 

[Maya]

That was giving me so much anxiety when they were still taking orders even though they had 45 minute wait times. The heat in those trucks looked so miserable. Could they at least give them fans?

That Mac and cheese on a bun looked so nasty. Hilarious that team is still there. 

[Chellichik]

There should be some kind of penalty for making people wait longer than 15 minutes for their food.  It’s asinine that those trucks can take orders and make people wait that long, but as long as they get the customers’ money, who cares about getting them food, right??

[Lurk]

On 7/4/2022 at 2:51 PM, Salacious Kitty said:

There was a scene of the "secret" judges eating at Cheese's truck. In the background, you could see all three team members loitering around outside the truck. Cameras were following the tasters, for crying out loud. I'm sure the Cheese truck knew right away who they were. I imagine it was the same for the other trucks. Are regular customers going to grill the pitch person on ingredients? With a camera in their face? 

So obvious.

I noticed that too. Like they were all hanging outside the truck talking about the judges visiting.

[Salacious Kitty]

Oh gag. Sugar is going to win this, isn't she? 

Glad ESO survived to cook another day. Here's hoping they can knock out one of the heavy favorites next week.

[HyeChaps]

In one respect it was a relief to have them all in one place.  There is always time wasted and anxiety while they search for a parking spot.

[HighQueenEB]

Effing editing monkeys.  I hate them almost as much as I hate Maybe Cheese.  That's all.  

At least they've stopped toying with my emotions and made it clear, based on next week's preview, that we're stuck with Maybe Cheese until the finale.  

I don't know how ESO can pull out a win with the deck being stacked so completely against them - Senoreatas has their built-in LA fanbase and selecting a location that's holding a Gay Pride parade for Maybe Cheese.

[LexieLily]

58 minutes ago, HighQueenEB said:

I don't know how ESO can pull out a win with the deck being stacked so completely against them - Senoreatas has their built-in LA fanbase and selecting a location that's holding a Gay Pride parade for Maybe Cheese.

Has ESO ever parked in the same location as Senoreatas or Cheese? Maybe they need to do that and just wait for the food to speak for itself.

Maybe ESO should create a mac and cheese bowl. Lol.

Edited July 11, 2022 by LexieLily

[Colorado David]

oh lord, dunes. more of Cali. I was hoping they'd get to drive the buggies, not the downhill sled. and please give the teams wet towels and misters to stay cool in those trucks. 

mabye just me, but i don't want mac n cheese on a BLT - part of the charm of the BLT is the crunch, and I feel the mac would sog it down.

amawele making fry bread, awesome!!! and hard to do.

I haven't tried a plantain, but senoritas sammich looked interesting. plantains are like a banana but not sweet I'm guessing??

I would order several of the lobster ravioli sammiches ESO made, that looked tasty. and aioli on anything is gonna be good in my book.

this has definitely been the season of slanting to help one team in particular, and I don't like it. no favoritism.

 

[bluepiano]

9 hours ago, HyeChaps said:

In one respect it was a relief to have them all in one place.  There is always time wasted and anxiety while they search for a parking spot.

Yeah, the best thing about this episode was that we didn't have to watch the trucks driving around looking for a place to sell, boring padder footage which we've had way too much of this season. As well as the thrilling parallel parking scenes! This is another way in which this show totally doesn't reflect the reality of the food truck business. Food trucks never drive around looking for some random place to park. All their locations are prearranged and contracted with the venue, with often permits from some local jurisdiction required.

I was surprised by Maybe Cheese's success, because the last thing in the world I'd want to eat in a desert is hot, gooey, mac and cheese. All their dishes sound so heavy. I also was wondering about the sequined robe that Sugar wears. It covers her from her head to toe and she must've been boiling in it. 

Well, next week back to the beach. Outside of this week all the locations have been pretty much the same, which I think has been pretty boring. (And a few times they've actually shot in a different SoCal beach town then they claim to be in).

[bluepiano]

22 minutes ago, Colorado David said:

I haven't tried a plantain, but senoritas sammich looked interesting. plantains are like a banana but not sweet I'm guessing??

Plantains are sweet as well and are usually served fried as a dessert in Latin Caribbean cuisine. Plantain chips (like potato chips) are also popular. I have never heard of them being used as a bread substitute in a sandwich and really wonder about the consistency, because they are not firm enough to hold ingredients inside. It must've also been messy to hold.

Edited July 11, 2022 by bluepiano

[Colorado David]

1 hour ago, bluepiano said:

I was surprised by Maybe Cheese's success, because the last thing in the world I'd want to eat in a desert is hot, gooey, mac and cheese. All their dishes sound so heavy. I also was wondering about the sequined robe that Sugar wears. It covers her from her head to toe and she must've been boiling in it. 

Not to mention, she said what, 3 girdles and spanx?? My god I'd be a sweating nightmare.