Roll on up to the Food Truck Festival
If you've been to an outdoor concert, a fundraiser, or even a popular park in the past few years, chances are you've noticed the explosion of food trucks around the region. As they serve up everything from tacos to cannolis, cupcakes to lobster rolls, the trucks offer food purveyors a creative business outlet and hungry diners a welcome culinary alternative to fast-food chains.
But if you haven't had a chance to try all these mobile vendors have to tempt your taste buds, you're in luck. This weekend's second annual Food Truck Festival at Tanger Outlets in Westbrook offers the chance to sample food-truck goodies all in one location.
Food trucks from throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts descend on Tanger Outlets on Saturday, July 12, and Sunday, July 13. And, as if a weekend of culinary indulgence weren't enough to please the crowds, this year's fourth annual Boat Show has been planned for the same weekend at the same location. The Boat Show will run from Friday, July 12, through July 13.
Festival-goers will be treated to more than a dozen food trucks on Saturday and Sunday, as well as live music from VWExpress from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday and from SlowPoke from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday. William Sonoma Outlet will give kitchen-product demonstrations on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. and on Sunday at 12:30 and 3 p.m.
Participating food-truck vendors include Lobster Craft, High Tide Gourmet, Food Extrovert, Rough House Food Truck, Caseus Cheese Truck, The Cannoli Truck, The Happy Taco, Food Encounters, Sugar Bakery's Cupcake Truck, Christiano's Pizza, Rollin Red's, Mobile Munchies, Latin Spoon, NoRA Cupcake Company, Like No Udder, Gotta Q BBQ and others on Saturday; and Get It Toasted, High Tide Gourmet, Lobster Craft, Cowabunga, Food Encounters, Rough House Food Truck, Food Extrovert, The Happy Taco, Sugar Bakery's Cupcake Truck, Christiano's Pizza, Rollin Red's, Mobile Munchies, Like No Udder, Gotta Q BBQ, Latin Spoon and others on Sunday.
Hours for the Food Truck Festival and Boat Show are Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Boat Show kicks off on Friday, July 11, and runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. MarineMax Westbrook, Louis Marine, A&S Boats and Guilford Boat Yards will be on-site displaying new and used boats. Admission is free.
Tanger Outlets Westbrook is at 314 Flat Rock Place in Westbrook.
Stories that may interest you
Tim Grills's tasty baked wings bring the heat
Timothy Grills, former owner of Timothy's an a longtime kitchen legend in the area, offers an easy-to-prepare dish ideal for summer enjoyment.
Tipping Point: Our picks and pans (Pasta Vita's Southwestern Chicken Salad, 'Heathens,' Goodspeed by the River)
FOOD TIP Southwestern Chicken Salad Pasta Vita, Old Saybrook This salad is my new fave from Pasta Vita — and it tastes like summer to me. Atop a bed of fresh lettuce sits an array of goodness: Cajun chicken, Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses, black beans, onion, grape...
Take a Stand this summer in Niantic
The latest stop on my tour was the Crescent Beach Stand in Niantic, “powered,” as the adverts say, by the able crew at Flanders Fish Market & Restaurant.
Naem khao is a crispy Lao rice salad that is sweet, salty, spicy, sour and sublime
The first time I had Lao food, I fell hard for a dish I then obsessed over for years. I'd think about it on the subway, while cooking dinner, folding laundry, during a run.
READER COMMENTS