Lunch Trucks in Downtown

Every Wednesday during the summer a group of lunch trucks come to downtown. They park across from the Ramsey County Court House on Kellogg Avenue from roughly 11 AM to 1PM. A few Wednesdays back I ate at the Gastrotruck. The decision to choose this little white truck over the lovely purple Magic Bus Cafe or the bright orange Fork in the Road truck was a hard one. All the menus looked great, but the little rack of homemade condiments on the Gastrotruck won me over. I guess I just had to try the marinated spring ramps and the pickled red onions. I only recently discovered what a spring ramp is (wild leek) and you really wouldn't expect a lunch truck to be serving it. I perhaps had more than my share of spring ramps on that black bean and oats slider I ordered. You wouldn't expect that from a lunch truck either. I was so impressed with my slider that I had to attempt to make them at home. My version goes something like this: Mash one 15 oz can black beans with 2 eggs, add 3/4 cup old fashioned oats, 1 cup chopped portobello mushrooms, a little chopped onion and garlic (saute it first), a little salt, pepper, dried oregano. Leave it in the fridge for an hour or so and then form into patties and fry on a griddle in a little olive oil. Awesome. I made a jar of pickled red onions too. Maybe next spring I will try foraging for ramps to complete my slider experience.