Colombian street food with a twist!

It’s a blustery evening with grumbling gray clouds threatening, but that’s not enough to keep hungry teenagers away from a park square lined with food trucks! The first one we hit is Chikiz Empanaditas Gourmet run by Roberto and Jennifer Arciniegas. They serve authentic Colombian cuisine with a gourmet twist.

“My mom was a chef,” Roberto explains. Four years ago, when they were brainstorming ideas for the business, she told them exactly what they needed to do. The Winter Garden-based couple started selling empanaditas (mini savory Latin-American turnovers) at farmer’s markets. Their first event was such a hit, they invested in a food truck a few months later with the goal of making Colombian street food accessible to all Floridians.

“We want to continue a family tradition and create a new Colombian street food, and also educate people about our food and our country,” Roberto says.

He recommends the arepas nachos and the megapatacon, and we’re eager to try them both. The arepas are homemade cornmeal patties cut into triangles and deep fried to a nice crunch. They are topped with pico de gallo, sour cream, Monterey jack cheese, grilled corn, a garlic cilantro aioli sauce, and tons of fresh lettuce. For a protein, you can choose from chicken, chorizo (a flavorful Colombian sausage—not spicy like the Mexican version) or carnitas (pulled pork).

Where Elvis makes a regular appearance

Next, we go for some traditional American fare at 1 Up Burger. The colorful truck belongs to Michael Friend and his girlfriend Tammy McCarthy. The couple moved down from Michigan two years ago after Covid shut down their pawn shop business. With help from Tampa Bay Food Trucks (the company who organizes this rally and many other opportunities for food truckers), they purchased, branded, and outfitted their truck.

It was a big leap of faith for the pair, who both worked in food service when they were younger. “We sold everything we had. We used our entire life savings to do this,” Michael says. Now, based out of Port Richey, they feature burgers, chicken strips, and fries. Everything is fresh, never frozen, Michael tells me. “If they don’t like it, I’ll make them anything they want on the menu, guaranteed,” he adds.

Of course, we’re here for adventure, so when I ask what we should try and Michael tells me “the Elvis Burger,” I already know we’re in. It’s a quarter pound patty with sharp cheddar cheese, bacon, honey, and peanut butter.

I think I may have misheard him, but no. It really does have peanut butter. He got the recipe from a fellow food trucker who had it on their menu and raved about it. “I was like, no way. I took a bite out of courtesy and said, ‘Can I put this on my truck?’’” Michael recalls.

I have a similar reaction. The peanut butter adds a certain je ne se quoi to what is basically a great bacon cheeseburger. But I’ll let our taste testers tell it.

Amadi

“Somehow the flavors go together.”

Kira

“It’s really good. Unexpectedly good.”

Ocean

“I have the same feeling as when I first put a fry in my Frosty.”

Zion

“I’m sad I haven’t tried peanut butter on my burger before.”„

Sweet, simple treats with flair

We’re not ashamed to go for a second dessert, even after the rain starts coming down. Dodging raindrops, we hurry across the square to the bright pink 1974 Ford P350 owned by Polk County resident Lea Williams. Williams used to run a candy shop called Got Candy just down the street on Kentucky Avenue, but switched her business to a full-time food truck gig in May of 2017.

Lea and her daughter, Lyn Hayes, love the flexibility of having a mobile dessert truck. They aren’t tied to one location, the cost of doing business is lower, and they can close for vacation if they want to. “With the food truck we can go to our customers. We can do events; people love events. A food truck is something that is fun and different.”

Got Desserts features a number of sweet treats, including cheesecake on a stick dipped in your choice of hard coating like an old-fashioned soft-serve cone (choose from chocolate, white chocolate, cherry, or one of several other flavors Lea rotates through, including birthday cake, blue raspberry, peanut butter, or cotton candy). The Cheesecake Cookies are cheesecake sandwiched between two home-baked cookies, half-dipped in chocolate and frozen. You can get a mini Ice-cream Cake that feeds two.