Franktuary Truck

loved that i ran into this food truck at a summer event. i never got to go to the brick and motor, and i've seen it at the airport, but unfortunately only when it's closed. so i was really excited to try it and it did not disappoint!

I stopped by this food truck a number of Thursdays ago at this point. During the warmer months, our neighborhood has food trucks come in every other Thursday and this One happened to be the Frankuary truck. I have been to the Frankuary restaurants before, both the original downtown under the church and then the one in Lawrenceville as well, so knew what to expect. However it had been a long time since I had been, so I was excited to be trying their product again. Since this was a food truck, there's not much to say about it other than it was being worked by two employees who were churning out orders quite efficiently.For my dinner on this day I ultimately ended up choosing a locavore, New York style and then also ordered a poutine to split with my wife. The menu described the locavore as a local grass feed beef dog with the New York style as coming with sauerkraut, sweet onion sauce and brown mustard and then the poutine as hand cut fries with fresh brown gravy and cheese curds. As I mentioned before, the people working here were going through orders quite quickly and soon enough I had both of my items and headed home. Once there I started on the locavore. It was decent enough as the bun was solid and I enjoyed all of the toppings on my hot dog as well as the hot dog itself. What I couldn't get past with it though was the $7 it cost and how it would probably take 3 of them for a proper dinner for me. After I had finished with the hot dog I started in on the poutine. The fries here were quite good and the gravy added a nice flavor and wetness to the dish. It was the cheese curds which were my favorite part as I am sucker for them, and who doesn't love cheese?The bottom line for me is that I might stop by here again in the future. While all of the food that I had was solid here, I still find it difficult to sometimes pay $7 for a hot dog. To each their own though!

This pace is a dumpy scam. I bought a hotdog and fries with a root beer fountain drink. The root beer was room temperature (warm) because they have no ice...Not now, not ever! My fries showed up about 10 minutes later when I was down to my last bite of the overcooked (and FRIED!) hotdog. If you could make this NEGATIVE STARS, then that's what my real rating would have been!!!

I keep hoping I'll like the Franktuary Truck more than I do. I've tried it several times and will continue to frequent the truck because, well, it's hot dogs and I'm an American (even though they sell veggie dogs). But there's just something missing for me. Or maybe I can't get over the hipster hot dog scene. I'm just not sure.I come across the truck every so often and it sometimes stops by my place of work at lunch time. I often go for their specials and those poutine fries are amazing. But I also often walk away feeling like it's maybe a bit pricey. Or the hot dog itself is bland and what makes it shine are the toppings and condiments. When I find myself at a local food truck round up, Franktuary is not usually my first stop. But until I can put my finger on what it is that's holding me back from loving it, I'll keep checking on their specials and ordering those poutine fries.

I think this thing was following me around this city this past week. Smart move, very smart move. How could I resist that temptation to have a hot dog whenever I want it? I mean, to be able to walk up, tell them I want a hot dog and ta-da my wish is granted.Delicious, delicious, delicious, that's all I can say about this place (or should I say truck since it is not bolted to the ground?). I stuck to the standard dog, no one can go wrong with that. I was so tempted to try the Memphis dog, but I got my old reliable. I also wanted some poutine, but, to no fault of their own, they were out! I mean you can't hold that against them if they ran out because EVERYONE wanted some.If I wouldn't go broke because of my appetite for some good hot dogs, I would follow this truck around the entire city. I'd put a tracking device on that thing.Staff personalities range depending on the day and the amount of people in line. Huge bonus that they take cards too, it's a love/hate thing for technology. Swipe my card and then watch me sign the screen like a kindergarten student.God, I feel like after writing this I could be like Jennifer Coolidge in the Legally Blonde movie. "Makes me want a hot dog real bad!"

It took me a long time, but at long last I got to grab some grub from the Franktuary Truck last weekend. It admittedly took me a little while to get around to this because I'm not the biggest hot dog person. But after hearing so many rave reviews - and even tasting a friend's order of French fries at a Yelp event (they were delicious and perfectly done, by the way!), I gave their actual hot dogs a shot. And all I have to say is, yum! I got a grass fed beef hot dog and, since I was feeling adventurous, topped it off with onions and ketchup. (I say adventurous because I normally eat plain hot dogs on the rare occasions I do eat them.) Of course the hot dog itself was delicious - grass fed beef is miles ahead of the typical hot dog. But I was surprised by how much I liked the onions with it. Not that I dislike onions, but in my experience a lot of onion-topped hot dogs just don't taste good. I think a lot of onion topping is cooked to the point that there's no flavor left and the texture just ruins the hot dog for me. But not at the Franktuary Truck! I bet it was chopped and cooked not long before it made its way onto my meal. The result? My tasty beef hot dog was topped with fresh onions that tasted fresh and had a delightful crunch to them.So yep - the food is delicious and the prices are pretty darn reasonable for what you get (my hot dog was $4, a regular one is $3). I will absolutely keep an eye out for this food truck in the future - I'd love to try one of their specialty hot dogs soon. And I definitely want to try their poutine on a day that I can make it to the gym after I gorge myself!

Years ago I worked at Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy when these guys first started with their truck. They'd come to our office once a month on a Friday. Their grass fed dogs were and still are the best I've ever had. One of the first food trucks in the city and by far one of the best. Love it when they are at an event because I know I'm going to get some fine eating on! They stay true to their roots and it's obvious they love and care about serving good food to people.

Now let me start this review off by putting out the disclaimer that I am not the biggest hotdog fan however these are some damn good hotdogs!I went with the Under Dog (a New Zealand grass fed beef hotdog) I added onions, ketchup, mustard, relish, hot sauce, bacon and a little mayo. It was EPIC! The casing on the dog had a nice snap to it. Every bite was like a exposion of different flavors. There was defiantly a party going on in my mouth! The toasted bun was a nice touch also.I also had a order of Frites. (hand cut fries) They were cooked perfectly, nice and crispy on the outside and soft and warm on the inside.They also offer Poutine Frites (hand cut fries with fresh cheese curds and gravy) and drinks including Mexican Coca Cola, San Pellegrino sodas and Snapple Iced Tea.For around 10 bucks you can get a dog, fries and a drink. Not bad at all in my book.

Franktuary's truck serves a much smaller menu than its Downtown location: hot dogs without the fancy fixin's. Ketchup, mustard and relish are available for you to add yourself, of course. At least when I visited the truck, they only had two of the three dogs that the Downtown eatery has: the veggie dog and the organic grass-fed beef. The veggie dog seemed pricey at $3.25, considering that I couldn't get anything on it beyond the DIY condiments, but I gave it a shot. I caught a glimpse of the veggie dog package--totally Smart Dogs, which I can buy at the grocery store. Meh. The two sides available at additional cost ($2 each) were french fries or fried pickles, and I went with the latter. I don't know how awesome the organic hot dog is, but the veggie dog was just okay. The bun was fine. The pickles were sliced thinly and then fried with some sort of cornmeal coating. They were okay, too, but probably not something I'd order again. I'd still like to visit the downtown location to try the extended menu and to say that I've eaten hot dogs in a church basement, but I'll probably pass on the truck if there are other food options in the area.

I've been stalking these guys on twitter for a while since I had heard good things. Today's tweet revealed that they were in Oakland at "Soldiers & Sailors". "Hot Dog!' thought I, knowing what a terrible pun it was.It was almost not to be as I assumed the truck would be parked with the other trucks and waited nearby for 10 minutes. Not so! They are parked literally on the steps of Soldiers & Sailors. Ordered the veggie dog with 'kraut and a side of "boring" (aka plain) fries. Fries were great but I was quickly jealous of the guy in front of me who got them with vegan gravy and cheese. I shall not make this mistake again. Veggie dog was... fine. I'm guessing boiled which I've found is not my favorite way to cook a tofu pup. Makes it really bland. I think maybe next time I'll ask them to pop it in the deep fryer like the guy behind me did (smarty pants) OR ask for a little vegan gravy right on the dog. Still, I appreciate a business who makes an effort with veggie customers. And let's face it... it's just plain ol' fun to order from a food truck! I'm glad Frank and I have moved beyond the stalker phase into the beginnings of a beautiful relationship.