Falling for Food: Macaroni and Cheese in a Truck?

When I first heard about the concept of a truck filled with macaroni and cheese that would make lunchtime stops throughout the city, I was very excited. It’s like an ice cream truck. For adults. Minus the ice cream, of course. Their debut route was last week and I followed them on twitter to find out where they would be stopping. But with the unbearable cold temperatures Chicago was facing and lack of stops near my job, I wasn’t able to convince myself to venture out to find this—what I hoped to be magical—mac n’ cheese truck.

Fortunately, today, they were making a stop a mere few blocks from my job on one of the warmest days Chicago has experienced in quite some time. I took it as kismet that I was meant to find this truck. The stop they posted on their twitter was on Dearborn & Monroe. I arrived there around 11:43am, anxiously anticipating the 11:45am arrival of this truck as a crowd started to gather. It turns out they weren’t able to find a spot to park at this location, but they keep an update on their stops via twitter (@thesouthernmac), so I was able to get information about the new location. For this reason, I would definitely suggest you follow them on twitter for last minute changes and/or updates.

The guys on the truck were really friendly and when I was sad that they were out of the “Original Gouda” they kindly suggested I try the “Sun Dried Tomato.” Now, I am generally not a fan of tomatoes, but I figured I had been waiting over a week to try their food and I’m trying to over come my pickiness so why not step outside of my food comfort zone? After tasting my food, I definitely confirmed I am not a fan of tomatoes and I was really turned off when I discovered it was also mixed with caramelized onions. While the dish itself was pretty decent (if I picked around the tomatoes & onions—no one should have to work that hard for their lunch), I would definitely not order it again. I’m hoping the next time I find them they have some of the original gouda mac’n cheese, because while I’m growing in my food tastes, I’d rather keep my mac n’cheese choices simple for now.

I’ll also be stopping by their restaurant, The Southern (www.thesouthernchicago.com), in Wicker Park. Because while I like that the food comes to me, that also means I’m unable to make any special requests (hold the onions please), which is very important for a picky wanna be foodie like myself.