The first Orlando Food Truck Bazaar happened on March 29, 2011 in a church parking lot on Orange Ave. The event was organized by TheDailyCity.com and even though the Bazaar was promoted everywhere, I don't think anyone was expecting the humongous crowds that showed up. I decided to stop by the event on my way home and didn't think the parked cars that went on for a few blocks could possibly be for a parking lot filled with food trucks. They were. I parked and entered the mass of thousands of people consuming street food...
Because of the huge crowds, I decided I would make my food choice based on whatever line seemed shortest. After a quick walk around, The Taco Company (also listed as The Taco Lady and The Taco Truck) won my business.
It took me about twenty minutes to place my order. With the amount of people still lined up for the other trucks, I figured I was doing pretty good. I decided to get a torta with carne enchilada (seasoned pork). Turned out the only meats left were steak or chicken, so I went with a chicken torta instead.
Once I placed the order, it was time to wait for the food. I must put the emphasis on wait because my twenty minutes to order was dwarfed by the next hour and a half that I stood there waiting to get my torta. In that time, all of the other trucks had either sold out of food or shut down for the evening. I did receive my food eventually and the nice people inside The Taco Company truck threw in some tacos and a soda to apologize for the wait. By that point though, I was completely over standing in line for my food and just wanted to get home...
Once back home, it was time to eat the food! I started with the chicken torta. The large roll was filled with plenty of shredded chicken, lettuce, tomato, onions, peppers, and cheese. Unfortunately, the avocado that was also supposed to be on the sandwich was nowhere to be found.
I actually preferred the tacos over the torta. Being that these are from a taco truck, I guess it's only appropriate. They gave me one chicken and one steak taco, each on a warm corn tortilla, garnished with onions and cilantro. A handful of radish and lemon slices completed the plate.
My food was good, but there is no way it was worth the wait. If you want to try The Taco Company, I would suggest finding them in Ocoee when they aren't swamped with thousands of people. I have a feeling the tacos would probably be served up pretty quickly in another situation.
The Food Truck Bazaar was definitely a success with the amount of people that showed up. I waited way longer for my food than I was anticipating and didn't get to try as much as I would have liked, but this is the first event of it's kind in Orlando. After the success of the Food Truck Bazaar, food truck events seem to be becoming a weekly thing in town. With food trucks out all the time and more events like this, such as last Wednesday's Food Truck Pod at Firestone Live, it only means Orlando's street food scene will get better from here...
