According to a comment made by a user on Urban Dictionary, “food trucks are to adults what ice cream truck are to children”, and I couldn’t agree more. With no meal plan, the lines too damn long at the student center, and finding myself snoozing through alarms (and not having time to prepare a decent meal before the Crimson Ride rolls up to my stop), food trucks on campus have become my guilty pleasure.
With food trucks such as Blenz Bowls, Boba Mania, Cheese Louise, Urban Cookhouse, and La Mexicana scattered across campus throughout the week, UA students have a wide variety of choices to choose from. So, with that, here are some of my favorite food truck finds I have found while being a student here at the University of Alabama.
Blenz Bowls:
If you are looking to kill time before your next class and pay too much for a bowl of blended fruit, Benz Bowls is just what you are looking for! Jokes aside though, I too didn’t get the hype with these bowls until I finally tried one back in the spring of my freshman year. Once I had first bowl, my dining dollars quickly started to disappear as my roommate and I would go at least twice a week to get one fo these delicious bowls. They are also the perfect, cold treat for those hot Alabama summer days you spend sun-bathing on the quad with a good book in your hand.
So, what is my go-to at Blenz Bowls? Any of the smoothie bowls they have to offer! Each bowl is blended to perfection (no clumps or chunks of fruit) and topped with your choice of five toppings (extra toppings costs extra)! My favorite of the smoothie bowls would have to be the sunset bowl (with banana, pineapple, and strawberry) or the Happy Hippie (with banana, strawberry, and mango) and topped off with Nutella, extra strawberries, and extra granola.
Other popular choices include their wide variety of smoothies – perfect for workouts or on the go, and their premium bowls such as their acai bowl, ocean bowl, pitaya bowl, and their matcha bowl.
Although they recently just opened a location in the Student Center, Blenz Bowls’ food truck can be found most of the time on Colonial Drive (right next Reese Phifer).
So, if you are ever looking for a fresh, healthier meal that is sure to fill you up, Blenz Bowls is the way to go!
Rating: 9/10 (where all my dining dollars went my freshman year)
Urban Cookhouse
In my opinion, this is one of those places where I couldn’t eat their food every day. Don’t get me wrong, their food is delicious, but as a broke college student who lives off lean cuisines and frozen meals, I personally must be craving Urban Cookhouse in order eat it (EXCEPT WHEN IT COMES TO THEIR ORANGE ROLLS).
Parked right outside of Gorgas library and the English building (on Capstone Drive), Urban Cookhouse’s food truck only offers a couple of meals from its actual menu at this location (and sadly no orange rolls whenever I pass by). My go-to from their food truck menu would have to be the grilled chicken sandwich. This sandwich has chopped grilled chicken (obviously) cooked to perfection, is smothered with provolone cheese and aioli, and all smushed together between to crispy pieces of white bread (the menu will say it also comes with tomato and lettuce, but I’m not going to ruin a perfectly good sandwich with any tomatoes or lettuce).
One bite of this heavenly sandwich and it will literally melt in your mouth. And because of how big the sandwich itself is, I bet you can’t finish it in one sitting!
So, if you are looking for a southern take on a freshly prepared meal (all their food is locally sourced), make sure to check out Urban Cookhouse’s food truck!
Quick sidenote before heading onto our next food truck. Although I have never seen them offer these on their food truck menu, if you ever see ‘Orange Rolls’ listed on their menu for the day, do yourself a favor and just hop in line. Even if it means you are a couple of minutes late to your next class because you must wait in line for them, just do it. They are what I considered *chef’s kiss*.
Rating: 8.99/10 (Chicken sandwich really hits the spot if you are in the mood for some Urban Cookhouse
Cheese Louise
For almost three years, I have walked past the Cheese Louise food truck; the smell of melting cheeses filling the air. It wasn’t until very recently (February 1st, 2023, to be exact), that I decided to try Cheese Louise’s infamous grill cheeses.
Now I will admit, I was really second-guessing if this grill cheese was even worth it considering that it was forty degrees outside (and being from Alabama, I don’t do well with the cold). To cut to the chase, it is totally worth waiting outside in the freezing cold for one of these legendary grill cheeses.
With out-of-the-box versions of the classic grill cheese, such as the yellowhammer, the godfather, the gentlemen, and the party animal, Cheese Louise offers the perfect, gooey grill cheese for everyone.
On this day, I decided to stick with the classic grilled cheese. This grilled cheese oozes out ooey-gooey muenster cheese that is then smushed between to perfectly toasted piece of white bread. With this being the first time I tried Cheese Louise, they certainly didn’t disappoint!
So, if you want to kick it old school with a classic grill cheese or spice it up a bit with one of their out-of-this-world takes on a classic, make sure to stop by Cheese Louise’s food truck
Rating: 8/10 (a damn good grill cheese)
Boba Mania
I have one word for this place. No.
To be honest, I don’t get the hype of this place at all. Every time I pass the Boba Mania food truck, I see long lines of students eagerly waiting to order and for what, some nasty starch balls at the bottom of a flavored tea. Now, I will admit, I have never tried Boba Mania’s boba tea (hold your tomatoes), but I have had boba tea before and was out like nine bucks. So yes, my bad experience with Boba Tea has left me to walk past the bright yellow Boba Mania food truck every time I see it.
Some of the teas Boba Mania has to offer at their food truck location includes the brown sugar boba tea, tiger milk boba tea, and the grapefruit Oolong tea.
Now if multiple people were to recommend me one of their infamous teas, I might give boba tea a second shot. Until that historic day though, I’ll save my dining dollars for the food truck that sits right outside of Gorgas library (and probably my favorite of all the UA food trucks)- La Mexicana.
Rating: Well, I really can’t rate this one…
La Mexicana
Before I had some of the best tacos of my life, I thought this place was pretty good. I had had beef and cheese tacos from their once and although they were pretty good, I wasn’t dying to go back again the next day.
That is until I tried their special.
But first story time.
If you ever have your director ask you and your partner if you want to leave the middle of class to go try La Mexicana’s special (for research purposes) to help you create content about food trucks at UA, don’t ask any question. Just go along with it.
During the middle of class (while brainstorming ideas for content), we left and headed straight for the La Mexicana food truck. On the way there, our director was telling us just how amazing the special there was (and he wasn’t kidding).
We arrive to the food truck to be greeted by the aroma of spices and the sounds of a sizzling grill in the back. The special, which is only six dollars, is two pork carnitas tacos. Now you may be wondering, what is pork carnitas? Pork Carnitas (or pork shoulder) is marinated overnight in a delicious blend of sauces and spices. The next day, the meat is cooked to perfection and, in my opinion, requires no additional toppings because of how much flavor these tacos pack in.
I’m not exaggerating at all when I say these are some of the best tacos I have ever had in my life. They were so good that I literally went back for lunch the next day and get them again!
While La Mexicana has a variety of other dishes to choose from, do yourself a favor and just get the special (it’s that good).
So, if you are looking for some damn good food, be sure to head on over to La Mexicana’s food truck!
Rating: 11/10 (superior rating for my favorite food truck on campus)
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Article by: Madison Corley and Brad Hachtel
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