Posted July 28, 201014 yr Anyone catch this truck yet?? Issue Date: July 2010 Issue The Wheel Deal Laura Taxel [email protected] Picture dancing in a closet. With a partner. Fast. Now you have an idea of what it's like when Jeremy Esterly and Chris Hodgson are working side by side at Dim and den Sum, Cleveland's first gourmet food truck. It's actually a step van tricked out with burners, a grill, a deep fryer, coolers, propane tanks and a generator. With barely enough room to change their minds, the guys stack and pack beef shank tacos ($3 each) for hungry hordes wherever they stop. "We had 45 people in line during a thunderstorm," Hodgson reports with a mix of pleasure and astonishment. "Strangers start conversations," adds Esterly. "It's a cool little instant community. A nerdy guy will be talking with someone that probably would have beat him up in high school." READ MORE AT: http://www.clevelandmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=E73ABD6180B44874871A91F6BA5C249C&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=1578600D80804596A222593669321019&tier=4&id=B69EDEB9E6CC4708BFF40DD9DB5E3C95 "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 28, 201014 yr Nope. Been wanting to, but I don't eat out on Tuesdays, and that's when they're in UC for lunch.
July 28, 201014 yr It was in the Warehouse District for lunch on Monday. I fetched myself a Jjang Dog, but wish I had taken a dozen.
July 28, 201014 yr I haven't been following when they'll be downtown and where so I haven't caught them yet, but have heard great things from those who have.
July 28, 201014 yr follow them on twitter... they always update where they are going. :) @DimAndDenSum
July 28, 201014 yr Have sampled it several times - they are out side the Flying Monkey in Tremont just about every Saturday night. Everything Ive had has been great especially the pulled pork sandwich and the tater tots. The Soba noodle veggie burger has also gotten high praise from friends.
July 28, 201014 yr follow them on twitter... they always update where they are going. :) @DimAndDenSum Thanks! Looks like I just missed them downtown here on Monday, right by where I work :(
July 29, 201014 yr Thx for the tip about following them, they're going to be a WCPN/Playhouse Square today, so I'm going to go check it out!
July 29, 201014 yr No pix as I didn't bring a camera. report back: line was VERY long, which I was thrilled about, but moved fairly quickly. I got the pulled pork sandwich with sriracha mayo, bacon, lettuce and tomato (PBLT), the junkyard dog (local dog w/ peach mustard, slaw, marinated veggies and duck confit) and some tots. Tots weren't worth getting, but both sandwiches were very tasty but very hard to eat. Also too much bun for my liking on both, I picked a lot of bun off, but the large bun is probably needed since they put so much stuff on the sandwich. I didn't think the duck did anything for the dog, you couldn't taste it. I should have used about 100 napkins in hindsight, and really needed to wash my hands afterwards as the food got all over them. Not the best for a girl in a nice dress but I was lucky and didn't get anything on me. Service was friendly and very prompt for the # of customers. Would definitely go back but would probably bring a cloth napkin with me and some wetnaps, and would go on casual day :)
July 29, 201014 yr ^Thanks for the report! Hopefully that long line will inspire some imitators/competitors to increase the offerings. Korean tacos please!
July 29, 201014 yr I was talking with a lady in line who had just been to the farmer's market at CSU and we were both bemoaning the lack of food trucks here and how many there are in other cities. I think there were a couple of bloggers there as well as I spotted a couple of guys taking pix with their phones.
July 29, 201014 yr wasn't this truck the first of those city grants aimed at creating new and diversified food trucks in the city? as I recall there were a lot of people who thought that was a "dumb" idea, I thought it was a no brainer. given the success of this truck it seems we would be in line for more.
July 29, 201014 yr yes it is.... here's some background. i think it is safe to say we should see more. and that is a very good thing. http://www.cleveland.com/arts/index.ssf/2009/06/a_la_cart_cleveland_mayor_fran.html A la cart? Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson cooks up plan for more food options on street Monday, June 08, 2009 Cliff Pinckard For decades, if you needed a quick bite while on the sidewalks of Cleveland, street vendors provided two options: a hot dog or a sausage, each often boiled to a remarkable level of blandness. If you were a vegetarian, . . . well, you could eat the bun. But soon the curbside culinary scene in Cleveland could get interesting. Very interesting. How does a fresh taco sound? A pulled-pork sandwich? Falafel? Sushi? What about a steaming cup of homemade noodle soup in the winter? You could be enjoying some of them by next spring if Mayor Frank Jackson gets his way.... http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/06/city_of_cleveland_approves_ven.html Clevelanders get to sample the diverse wares of newly approved food carts Thursday, June 10, 2010 Pat Galbincea, The Plain Dealer CLEVELAND, Ohio -- You'll find diverse, healthy food for sale on Cleveland's streets this summer. Hundreds of people sampled tacos, dim sum, fruit salad and much more Thursday during an event in Ohio City that showcased Cleveland's push to get away from the long-standing hot dog-Polish boy food carts....
July 29, 201014 yr Fantastic! Anything we can do to encourage entrepreneurship is a win in my book. At this rate, we'll be the gourmet food capital of the country :)
July 29, 201014 yr ^Neither a bad nor unachievable goal for us. Our food scene has us shooting through the stratosphere, IMO.
July 29, 201014 yr this was originally posted in the random cleveland developments thread... no offense to the offenders but these are some of the responses it illicited... HaHaHaHaHaHa!!! Is this the only thing our "great" mayor can come up with??? Mental Hospital in Mid Town and a food cart on every corner! What a joke
July 29, 201014 yr History is littered with infamous predictions... http://www.ucsofa.com/famousquotes.htm It's why I never try to predict the future. Instead, I try to help create the future. "In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." -- John Steinbeck
July 29, 201014 yr tried to stop there around 1:45 and they were out of food. Not exactly something that I'm used to seeing, those hot dog vendors always seem to be filled. There really does need to be more of these. I really wanted that junkyard dog.
July 30, 201014 yr oh wow, they ran out of food! I guess that's both good and bad. Now if there were just more of these crazy things maybe we wouldn't have this issue.
July 30, 201014 yr I dont think they are sanitary. But that is just me. You will not find me eating at a food truck or push cart! EVER.
July 30, 201014 yr I dont think they are sanitary. But that is just me. You will not find me eating at a food truck or push cart! EVER. I think your worries are a bit misplaced. These gourmet food trucks have been popular in LA for quite some time and I rarely, if ever, hear of someone getting sick. These trucks live and die on reputation and that would kill a trucks rep.
July 30, 201014 yr I dont think they are sanitary. But that is just me. You will not find me eating at a food truck or push cart! EVER. I think your worries are a bit misplaced. These gourmet food trucks have been popular in LA for quite some time and I rarely, if ever, hear of someone getting sick. These trucks live and die on reputation and that would kill a trucks rep. I've seen those things all over S. Cali and Texas. I'm a neat freak and a germaphobe. I just can't eat from those places. No matter how clean they are, to me they are unsanitary.
July 30, 201014 yr I dont think they are sanitary. But that is just me. You will not find me eating at a food truck or push cart! EVER. I think your worries are a bit misplaced. These gourmet food trucks have been popular in LA for quite some time and I rarely, if ever, hear of someone getting sick. These trucks live and die on reputation and that would kill a trucks rep. I've seen those things all over S. Cali and Texas. I'm a neat freak and a germaphobe. I just can't eat from those places. No matter how clean they are, to me they are unsanitary. I can respect that. So now that the truck craze is starting in Cleveland, here's some suggestions for you guys if you're feeling entrepreneurial... these trucks have seen success here in LA: Banh mi (Vietnamese sandwhiches) Korean taco fusion Japadogs (Hot dogs with Japenese flavoring) Gourmet grilled cheese Gourmet cupcakes Groument french fries Crepes The truck I would start in a heartbeat if Skyline franchised in California would be a Coney Dog Truck!
July 30, 201014 yr Dim and Den tend more towards the Chinese/Korean hot dog/burger fusion, but all of those foods already do really well here, though the Korean taco and Japadogs haven't really landed, yet. Caught the truck today over in the Warehouse District and had the PBLT (pulled pork and BLT) with some tots. They were originally over on the Mall, but apparently got moved by the police. So when an officer approached the truck (thankfully after I got my food), I was expecting them to be moved again. INSTEAD, the officer told them some good spots to stop and then offered the guys her card so that when they were in the area, she would make sure that another cop would set out some traffic cones for them and reserve a spot so that they wouldn't need to circle around. [should be in the "I Love Cleveland" thread]
July 30, 201014 yr Well made sure that I got out early today so that they weren't out of food. Craziness kinda ensued, they tweeted they were going to be at the Mall, but couldn't find a spot, and ended up at W4th; all this time there were people milling about on St. Clair with smartphones out. Anyway, I got the Junkyard Dog and it is pretty darn good. Only downside is there is a disproportionate amount of Bun to Dog. But flavor wise very very good.
July 30, 201014 yr I'm glad you thought there was too much bun too, I thought it was just me. @avogadro, that is a GREAT story about the police officer, that's just awesome. I'd really like to see a quick mexican truck, with mostly just tacos. I mean, it would be so nice to have a place to get a few fresh fish tacos downtown, or a picadillo taco instead of commercially ground meat, which I don't eat.
July 30, 201014 yr I'd really like to see a quick mexican truck, with mostly just tacos. I mean, it would be so nice to have a place to get a few fresh fish tacos downtown, or a picadillo taco instead of commercially ground meat, which I don't eat. I would think given Cleveland's proximity to the lake that fresh fish tacos would be a slam dunk!
July 30, 201014 yr I'm glad you thought there was too much bun too, I thought it was just me. @avogadro, that is a GREAT story about the police officer, that's just awesome. I'd really like to see a quick mexican truck, with mostly just tacos. I mean, it would be so nice to have a place to get a few fresh fish tacos downtown, or a picadillo taco instead of commercially ground meat, which I don't eat. Yeah I pretty much agree with everything you said RnR. I forgot napkins ... completely. Needed to wash my hands as soon as I got back. But it was really tasty. mmm walleye taco.
August 11, 201014 yr Finally made it to Dim and Den Sum today!!!! So tasty. Had the rib sammich and the corn on the cob. The corn was interesting.... It definitely had lemon in the butter. Can't say I've ever had lemon butter corn before. And the rib sammich had a nice kick to it. I will definitely go back!
August 11, 201014 yr I didn't care for the nearly raw corn on the rib sandwich, but it had a good taste. My one complaint with them so far is nothing I've had is easily managed on the street, standing up, which is how a lot of food truck food is consumed. I've had much better experiences if I could sit down, and even better with a knife and fork.
August 11, 201014 yr I KNOW, that is SO BAD for my waistline. But I'm too cheap to tip for delivery if they're right down the street or something, so at least I will make myself go out if I'm going to indulge, but now I know to "bring back" instead of trying to eat there.
August 11, 201014 yr I didn't care for the nearly raw corn on the rib sandwich, but it had a good taste. My one complaint with them so far is nothing I've had is easily managed on the street, standing up, which is how a lot of food truck food is consumed. I've had much better experiences if I could sit down, and even better with a knife and fork. Today actually wasn't too bad. The rib sammich had a bean paste on it for flavoring, so it wasn't sloppy. Corn on the cob is corn on the cob (of course, it did have a good bit of buttery goodness on it). I did bring it back to my office to eat only cause it's friggin hot outside (and they didn't have any caffeinated beverages today), but I could've eaten today's selections standing.
August 11, 201014 yr Interesting, there was no bean paste on it when I got it - was this the one with the cornbread for bread? The lemon butter on the corn sounds excellent.
August 11, 201014 yr Interesting, there was no bean paste on it when I got it - was this the one with the cornbread for bread? The lemon butter on the corn sounds excellent. Nope, it's different now. They changed their menu. It had rib, roasted pepper slaw (moderatly spicy!), marinated tomato, spinach, and chinese bean paste on a hoagie.
August 11, 201014 yr I ate at Dim and Den Sum on Friday night outside of Flying Monkey. I got the Sweet and Sour Burrito or something. Personally, had I not been starving I would not have eaten it all. It was SO greasy, and the grease was dripping everywhere. Also, the chicken was overly salted (and greasy) and tasted exactly like canned chicken. I was very disappointed in it, but I was starving and had no food at home so I ate it. On a positive note, their fried green tomatoes were excellent.
August 25, 201014 yr ^good to know as I nuke my lean cuisine Yeah, I had leftover pizza in the fridge, but when I noticed they had changed their schedule such that they are at CIA today, I decided I had to try the waffle taco. Leftover pizza for dinner it is!
August 25, 201014 yr I forgot to mention that Dim Sum won 2nd place for Best Toppings/ Special Sauce at the National Hamburger Festival in Akron last month. They had by far the best looking burger and the line was long the whole time I was there.
August 27, 201014 yr Story from NewsNet 5: http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/entertainment/around_town/food-truck-delivers-gourmet-sandwiches-in-cleveland-all-day-and-night
August 27, 201014 yr Had a Korean fusion philly cheese steak last night from a food truck... was pretty tasty!
August 27, 201014 yr Story from NewsNet 5: http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/entertainment/around_town/food-truck-delivers-gourmet-sandwiches-in-cleveland-all-day-and-night I'm a little insulted that the reporter assumed that food trucks isn't something you should see in Cleveland. Maybe I'm being overly sensitive, but this is another "we're not sophisticated" or "hip enough" to have something like this.
September 6, 201014 yr Food Network is doing a vote for your favorite food truck. Dim & Den Sum is #3 in the whole country. Sign up and vote. You can submit 10 votes everyday! http://foodtrucks.teamdigital.com/?truck=25#page_top
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