One thing I miss about living in New York is food trucks. They’re all over that city and I always liked stopping and sampling different kinds of foods while wandering around Manhattan. Food trucks have become a way of life in a lot of cities, but not so much in the Midwest and not at all in Peoria. There’s been debates about letting food trucks into Peoria, the city council has flip-flopped both ways and I don’t even know where the situation stands now. I only know of one food truck in existence around the immediate area and it came up in conversation when I was enjoying the latest chicken wing feast at The Norwood Pub last Sunday with Marie and Alan Blackburn. As we were chatting about Peoria and the MBIP blog, Marie said, “My niece has a food truck,” and I immediately cut in and said, “Nacho Mama’s?” And she said that that is indeed her niece’s food truck. Well, I’ve been meaning to go and sample some of the food there, because it’s the only food truck that I know of that makes appearances in neighboring towns like Pekin, Washington and Morton. So it’s off to the MBIP Mobile to go check out Nacho Mama's Food Truck!
And we’re off on a somewhat overcast day, which is just the way I like it. I haven’t had a grilled cheese sandwich in a long time and I’m really looking forward to sampling the food at Nacho Mama’s!
We’re headed to Nacho Mama’s location in Morton and the only problem is that we have to travel over a bridge to get there. Aaaahhhh!
Okay, through the magic of these here interwebs you’re spared a white-knuckle drive over the bridge with a brief appearance of flop sweat on the forehead, but that’s all in the past and there’s the Nacho Mama’s Grilled Cheese Food Truck over there in the parking lot. Let’s go take a look!
Wow, very impressive! I like the color scheme and that’s really a fun and cheesy logo they’ve got going on!
Here’s the other side of the truck. I figured you’d want to see this, so here you go, you can thank me later.
There’s the windows where you order and pick up your food.
Hey, look who’s here, MBIP pal, Contributing Writer and Wheelman, Scott Turley! Scott lives in Morton, so I asked him if he wanted to meet up and sample some of the food and here he is! Great to have him along for this cheesy ride!
Scott’s pointing out the colorful menus leaning up on the side of the food truck, let’s go take a look and decide what to order.
It was a tough decision, but we decided on the Smoky the Pig sandwich and...
The Lobster Roll. I’ve never seen a Lobster Roll offered at a food truck and I’m anxious to try this out.
People are starting to show up, time to get in line...
And get ready to order!
And ordering time is hear, this is Ashley, looking super-cute at the ordering window waiting to take our luncheon order.
Here she is dutifully writing down the order...
I have to say, Ashley’s got wonderful penmanship! Very nice!
These are the drinks available, sadly a can of Budweiser is not amongst the offerings, oh well, maybe we’ll BYOB next time!
As I was waiting for our order I met Jenny, who told me she’s a faithful reader of MBIP and I always love to hear that. She says she’s eaten at Nacho Mama’s many times as she works right down the road. She’s tried many of the sandwiches here and said that so far her favorite is the Donatello, which is a sandwich made with Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, homemade pizza sauce, pepperoni and mushrooms. That sounds great, I may have to try that next time! Great to meet Jenny!
No wonder we had to wait for a little bit, Amanda ordered a ton of grilled cheeses! I hope there’s enough food left for our order!
Shortly after I snapped the picture of Amanda, my fear of them running out of ingredients were quashed as my name was called and Jordan and Ashley had our orders all finished up and bagged. And check it out, service with two great smiles! This is one friendly food truck!
We decided to have a tailgate lunch at Scott’s truck, let’s check out our luncheon order!
There’ the Lobster Roll to the left and the Smoky the Pig sandwich is over to the right. Chips also come with the sandwiches. Time to dig in, I’m starvin’ like you know who over here!
Wow, this is one fantastic grilled cheese sandwich! The melted smoky gouda and cheddar cheeses are rich and creamy and the bacon is thick and adds a nice hickory-smoked flavor to the sandwich. And it’s housed in between two buttery, grilled slices of bakery fresh bread. Very tasty and well worth the trip to Morton!
The Lobster Roll is unlike any Lobster Roll I’ve ever had and it is so good. There’s lots of fresh lobster salad topped with chopped onions and provolone cheese on a garlic roll. This is borderline decadent and so delicious!
And here’s the Nacho Mama’s crew as the luncheon shift is coming to a close, from left: Nacho Mama’s owner, Karen, Jordan and Ashley. Great job today, the lunch was unbelievable!
It’s closing time, but Karen agreed to answer a few questions before they packed the truck up and hit the road.
Are you the only food truck in this area?
Well, there’s catering trucks, but we’re the only pedestrian food truck servicing the Tazwell County area.
When did you start Nacho Mama’s?
We first started in July, 2013 in Bloomington, Normal.
What made you want to get into the food truck business?
I wanted to do something unique and different. Food trucks are big in other parts of the country, but not so much in the Midwest and I thought it was something that was needed. We encourage people to shop local and we get our cheese from Ropp Jersey Cheese in Normal, Illinois. We also get ingredients from Dixon’s in Peoria and The Garden Spot in Princeville.
Who came up with all the recipes for these unique sandwiches?
I created the majority of them and had some help from Heather, who’s the manager of Nacho Mama’s.
Is the menu ever-changing?
No, we have a permanent menu, which you can see on our website and we have a weekly special.
What’s the biggest seller?
The Foghorn Leghorn.
Thanks, Karen, this was lots of fun and a great meal!
If you’re in the Peoria area, Nacho Mama’s will be at the Sunbeam Building on Saturday, July 11th in the afternoon, check them out then or visit their schedule page to see where they’re going to be at in the upcoming weeks. Thanks to Karen and the Nacho Mama’s Crew for a fun afternoon and a great meal, we’ll see you all tomorrow!
Nacho Mama’s Grilled Cheese Food Truck
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Related posts: Cartsville—Visiting The Downtown Food Carts On A Fine Tuesday Afternoon and Lunch Cart A-Go-Go With The Olive Loafers.