Gastrotruck

How. How does a food truck produce such fresh, flavorful food???During trivia at 56 Brewing, I ventured out to the truck. In past experiences, I have found food trucks to be a total crapshoot, shelling out piles of cash for mediocre chow. This is NOT the case at Gastrotruck. I ordered the salmon as a bowl, and I'm SO glad I did. The bowl is basically an entree with rice pilaf and salad. The salmon was well cooked (read: NOT overcooked). The rice and salad were super yummy and before I knew it, the bowl was scraped clean!Seeing as I was sharing with my meal with my SO, I traipsed back over to the truck and snagged a black bean burger bowl. Similarly delicious!My only regret is I'm actually from Tucson and therefore, cannot stalk this truck around the city. Go there. Get the bowl. Be happy.

Local/Natural Ingredients + 4 Wheels + Tasty Food = My Favorite Food TruckAs the name implies, Gastrotruck serves up gastropub style fare (i.e., sliders, crudo, tacos, etc.) sans the pub atmosphere. Ingredients are sourced from local farms and markets; sometimes quite literally as I've seen them pick up ingredients at the St. Paul Farmer's Market during their downtime serving brunch.Complimenting the quality ingredients is a creative approach to seemingly simple pub style fare. Various sliders are typically the backbone of Gastrotruck's menu - those that I have tried have been consistently good and they also have at least one vegetarian variety available as well. I've also had some great chicken tacos and marlin crudo from the truck as well, so don't fret if seeking something not served in between two mini buns (insert your own joke here).You can typically find the truck in downtown St. Paul or near the capitol during the weekdays and occasionally at the St. Paul Farmer's Market on the weekends. Being the selfish bastard that I am, I definitely hope they stick to this side of the river...

I have been wanting to try Gastrotruck since my husband met the owners at a photography studio opening where they catered last year. So I was ecstatic when I found out they were going to be out downtown Minneapolis for lunchtime today. I went early, knowing lines get long at any food truck on a Friday with a beautiful day out.I was sad they didn't have the lamb burger but was happy to try the buffalo chicken burger, side of chips and a chocolate whoopi pie for dessert.The burger is not what you would typically guess buffalo chicken would be made. Since they use local and fresh ingredients, the chicken patty they made was flavorful and super moist. It was not coated in breading or buffalo sauce, it was a deconstructed burger with patty, layer of homemade buffalo sauce, blue cheese sauce and greens on top. It was unexpected and really delicious!On to dessert, the whoopi pie was a perfect end to my lunch. The chocolate cake was moist and tasty and the creme in the middle was just right.I will be happy to come back and try the lamb burger or any of their other dishes! From reviews and recommendations from friends, here's to hoping the next chance I have to stop by again there is the pork belly dish.

Gastrotruck is everything you look for in terms of the quintessential "food truck experience". They use organic ingredients for a varied menu that appeals to vegetarians and carnivores alike. My personal favorite is their beef brisket served with an egg on top and whole grain salad on the side.Some may argue the price point is a bit high but I would say overall the price is on the higher end of fair. Again, great ingredients and an elevated meal mad fresh. I'd recommend Gastrotruck to anyone. Way better than many other food trucks that get away with a high price and sub-par offerings for simply being just that.

Literally just bought a quesadilla... It's subpar. There is an overweight fellow in the truck who knows absolutely nothing regarding customer service and manners. He called me "chief" and yelled at me because I was at the wrong window - it wasn't exactly obvious. One star for the nice kid who took my order. Thanks "Chief"

I'm here to pile on another five-star review for Gastrotruck.We're lucky enough to have some fairly incredible chefdom coming from trucks in the Twin Cities, and Gastrotruck is one of the leaders. I work from home, so I don't usually get a chance to stalk the food trucks on a daily basis like some of you lucky bastards who work downtown. It's taken me far too long to try many of them, but I found myself in St. Paul around lunch time yesterday and jumped at the chance to track down one of these courts I keep hearing about. One peek at Twitter and I was sold by a tweet that informed me that there would be ice cream samples from Sweet Science Ice Cream that day at Gastrotruck (spoiler alert: you can now get this local ice cream brand from Gastrotruck... and you should). Lure me with ice cream. They know the tricks.I ordered the chicken wild rice burger with arugula pesto and sprouts. I already knew how good it was because I had sampled it a North Coast Nosh event earlier this year. I was too hungry to fully read the menu, so I just went for it along with a $1 side of tangy curried broccoli. The chef/co-owner Stephen threw in a quinoa sample for me too, which was kind of him as it was so much tastier than the giant container of quinoa + everything-I-wanted-to-clean-out-of-my-pantry medley that is still shelved in my fridge right now.Then, as I'm waiting for what will soon be a delicious mouthful of burger, I see something on the menu: a pork belly sandwich with housemade kimchi (i.e. My dream sandwich since I've been obsessed with kimchi since early 2010. And pork belly? Guh.). Why did I not order that?! However, come burger time, I was happy as a camper with my choice and pretty pleased with myself that I had accidentally managed to resist ordering pork belly... you know, nutritionally pleased.It was one of those meals that you don't normally find in a compostable paper boat. This is the kind of burger you pay $15 for in a nice restaurant. There's thought and care put into this stuff and it 100% shows in the flavor. I actually felt like everything about it was good for me without it tasting like "health-food" (at least not in the way that many people think about health food). I adore the pickle and condiment bar too. Down to the mustard, it's all homemade. I love it.Bonus points:-The cater.-They strive to be as close to zero-waste as possible.-They now serve Sweet Science Ice Cream, craft ice cream made right in St. Paul.-They are nice people who do nice things like decide to be zero-waste and serve a small local company's craft ice cream on their truck.

I'm not exactly sure how many times I've eaten at this truck the past few weeks. All I know is if it's within the vicinity of my office in downtown St. Paul, there's no stopping me from getting something good to eat from this truck.It's gotten to the point where I'm kind of embarassed to go buy something because they see me coming and wave, and kind of already predict what I'm going to order. :( I love love love the BBLT (pork belly, bacon, greens and tomatoes with a mustardy sauce) on slices of bread with a side of chips. Everyday I could eat this. I'm telling you, you must eat this at least once before you die. Well if you eat it once, you'll have to force yourself the deny the awesomeness of this sandwich a second time. There's really not a high likelihood that you would want to eat any other kind of sandwich after you've had the pork belly.Did I sell you on it yet? If not, you're a fool.They always have a side salad of some sorts or a different dessert. Always fresh, local ingredients that are perfectly cooked with well balanced flavors. They are nice nice nice people too! Speaking of which, can I get a BBLT right now?!?--BTW, if I give you enough love, can I somehow score some cooking lessons please!?? :)

Great food and even better service! Food is fresh, flavorful, and had healthy options. The server was accommodating and very friendly. I highly recommend.

Gastrotruck just catered lunches for a 5-day international conference I co-organized. They were incredibly easy to work with, especially since we had a lot of constraints from the venue and the international committee. They met (and even exceeded) our sustainability goals. They were able to meet the needs of a variety of dietary specifications. And they did this all with absolutely delicious and nutritious food.One of the chefs told me it was cool to be able to create a new sandwich for us. And another let us know it was important to them to be able to serve vegetarians and vegans a balanced meal, not just a tomato, cucumber, and lettuce slapped on a bun. And the group could tell - no snoozing in afternoon sessions!The portions were just right - not too much, not too little. The compostable wrapping, cups, and forks were just what we needed!Such a joy to work with - and I would definitely work with them again!

I hired Gastrotruck/Carbon Kitchen to provide a week's worth of lunches for an international academic conference on the UMN campus. Planning and working with them was a dream! We wanted interesting vegan and vegetarian options and wow, did they deliver! They even created a vegan banh mi sandwich for us which was one of the best sandwiches I've eat. Many of the attendees raved about it - and their other food. Some said that it was the best conference food they'd ever eaten. Mo, Jonathan, and other members of their team were remarkably adaptable, especially one day when at 10:30 am, I realized that I needed to have lunch delivered by noon instead of 1:15. They were there within the hour. Their staff is wonderful. If I lived in Minneapolis, I'd eat at Carbon or the truck once a week. If you have a chance, hire them or visit the truck or restaurant. You'll be very happy!