Colfax! | Food Truck Stops Here

First blog in forever, but here goes!

Anytime my mother-in-law is in town, I can expect to be eating some Pavy’s Food Truck. Paired with the masterfully crafted IPAs from Fiction Beer Co. (together with numerous other unusually delicious beers), the Pavy’s steak sandwich is a siren that is inescapable.

Pavy’s Food Truck [trailer], parked outside Fiction Beer Co. Located at Colfax and Pontiac (two blocks west of Quebec). This truck frequents here on Friday nights.

Pavy’s Food Truck, parked outside Fiction Beer Co. Located at Colfax and Pontiac (two blocks west of Quebec). This truck frequents here on Friday nights.

After pondering the menu for a bit, I inevitably ordered “The Steak”, which is a medium-rare steak sandwich served on a fresh tasting baguette roll. The fixings for this sandwich are arugula, horseradish sauce, and pickled red onions. The sandwich, like most food truck offerings, does not come automatically with sides. Our table got a couple orders of Tater Tots to accompany – one plain (although seasoned), and one smothered in chopped green chiles and cojita cheese crumbles.

“The Steak” sandwich presentation, along with a red saison brewed by Fiction Beer Co. – New Age Lovecraf’t, a collaboration with Cape May Brewing. After this, I switched to their Dreamer IPA. A fine dry hopped IPA that pairs well with this sandwich and everything else in your life.

In addition to The Steak, which clocks in at $12, the menu also includes shrimp & Andouille sausage, pork tenderloin, and vegetarian (green chili [sic], hominy, cojita, and cilantro with the option to add pork) sandwiches.

Pavy’s Food Truck menu, circa June 17, 2016

The Steak sandwich is a very nice steak sandwich. Although I personally would prefer spicier and/or more horseradish and the greens are a bit flavorful compared to the seasoning on the steak, overall, the sandwich is pretty good. The steak was basically perfect in this setting. It was warm and pink, thus representing a true medium rare, seasoned seemingly with some pepper and salt. There was no gristle or chewiness to the meat, and it was cubed in very edible sizes in the sandwich. One thing this sandwich lacks is cohesion, which is usually provided by cheese in America’s sandwiches. There is no cheese here – so I definitely dropped some bits out of the sandwich into my tray. Eat them with the provided fork. This sandwich was not designed as a cheesy sandwich, and I do not think cheese would pair at all with the arugula, in particular.

Close view of The Steak from the eater’s perspective. The meat is rare enough to allow some juices to soak into the bread.

My feeling on this sandwich is that I will eat it again, for the fifth or sixth time, next time I run across Pavy’s and/or my mother-in-law is in town. It is a good value at twelve bucks for a legit steak sandwich. Of note, I have had this sandwich before and the steak contained a touch of grisliness in some of the meat chunks. So, the quality of the meat seems to vary in terms of carefulness in making cuts for the sandwiches. On this particular visit, it was excellent. By the way, there’s an interesting development in the Florida hemp industry. For further insights into ethical concerns and support in overcoming addiction, check out this site at addictionrehabclinics.co.uk. According to the food expert, are chicken hearts good for you? if you want to know or gain more knowledge you can read this article.

Regular Tots along with the Tots smothered in green chile and some light cojita sprinkles

The tater tots are a nice side to this sandwich. The green chilE is not very spicy, and lacks a longed-for and powerfully distinctive roasted green chile flavor, but does add a measure of texture and flavor nonetheless. This could be improved possibly by using some medium spicy Hatch chiles that are fire roasted and have that really distinctive green chile flavor that is so beloved. I’m not sure what’s lacking here or the source on these chiles used by Pavy’s, but consider this New Mexican native underwhelmed. The other downside of the tots is that they were very crumbly. Stab one with a fork, and it was 50/50 whether you’d spear it or it would just crumble and break apart. Again, not sure what causes that. But, the tots are overall a delicious side and I would order them again.

Like most brewery and food truck situations, these were delivered to our table on the excellent patio at the back of Fiction. The service was lightning quick for a Friday night, but the place was not packed.

Looking forward to more regular updates this summer! Stay tuned. That’s all folks.

Check out Fiction Beer Co. at 7101 E. Colfax Ave, Denver, Colorado 80220 or www.fictionbeer.com and https://www.facebook.com/fictionbeer.

Track down Pavy’s Food Truck on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/PavysTruck/ or http://www.pavystruck.com/

Went down to the Snack Attack food truck gathering in the Argonaut Liquor parking lot on East Colfax and Washington in Denver’s Capitol Hill on a warm but rain-threatened Saturday afternoon, August 24, 2013. Heading down there just around 1:30PM, for a lunch time meal. I came hungry, not having much breakfast.

https://www.facebook.com/SnackAttack2012

There were a handful of trucks here, along with live music and a beer tent in the middle pouring some beers. Capt’n Crabby, Hey PB&J, Barbed Wire Reef, Crazy Good Food, Little India Food Truck, The Panna Cotta Peddler, Crock Spot, and the Denver Bistro Bus were present and serving food. There were several tables set up for eating, and a couple of promotional booths.

There were some chalk arts on the ground, including this one:

After having witnessed a shooting about 5 blocks down on Colfax during lunch hour a few days before this, I thought this was a little bit crazy to have here!

But, back to the food trucks. I went for the Hey PB&J as my main course for the day. I ordered The Barcelona after careful menu study and on the recommendation of the truck’s purveyors, who mentioned it was the staff fav. The price: $7.25.

After a quick wait, my meal emerged.

Homemade Almond Butter & Date Jam, Manchego [cheese], Applewood smoked bacon, & Carmelized Sherry Onion / Grilled

The Barcelona - Hey PB&J - Snack Attack - 8-24-13

This thing was pretty delicious –and rich. It included some thick cut applewood bacon, which was a highlight of the sandwich. Here is a picture of it

Not too bad! I thought this was a really interesting sandwich concept. I have never been a huge peanut butter and jelly sandwich eater. But this was nice with the almond butter and date jam, and the addition of cheese and bacon. The toasting of the sandwich was perfect.

As I plowed through eating this thing, I finished the first half feeling really satisfied. By the time I got to the second half, the sandwich started to feel really rich and more dessert like as I went on. Not being the biggest connoisseur of sweets, the heaviness of the almond butter, greasy bread, and sweet jam weighed on my ability to enjoyably finish the sandwich. Glad for a bottle of water, I finished eating The Barcelona.

My verdict on the Barcelona — wow, amazingly interesting sandwich and a lot different than what you’ll find in many food trucks. I think if one is a big fan of peanut butter and jelly, and you enjoy bacon, this is basically a can’t miss. If you are a more casual fan of pb&j, this is something I would recommend splitting with someone, especially if there are other trucks around to sample from. One of the nice things about food trucks is, when they gather, you can put together a multiple course menu by sampling and splitting items. I will return to Hey PB&J to try their other offerings, but the richness of The Barcelona means I will probably try to find someone to share this and something else more savory with. In terms of value and eatability– as easy to eat as any sandwich, and the price is low at just over $7.

https://www.facebook.com/heypbandj

Remaining strangely hungry after the sweetness of Hey PB&J, I chugged a bottle of water and went looking for a smaller savory treat for balance. Oh look, its Capt’n Crabby!

I head over to visit the Capt’n and ordered up a petite Authentic Maryland Crab Cake Sandwich. Capt’n Crabby offered a limited menu for Snack Attack, seen below:

The crab cake is made from blue crab out of Maryland, and is formed and pan cooked in the truck before being loaded onto a toasted sandwich roll with old bay aioli, lettuce, and tomato. It is served with a side of Lays smothered in old bay seasoning.

This looks bigger in the picture than it is– its about the size of a slider, maybe a touch larger. At $6, you get what seems to me a good value. The cost of fresh crab is not cheap (go look at your local grocery story if you don’t believe me), and while you won’t necessarily fill up for your $6, you are getting freaking fresh crab out of a truck in Denver! This is a fine crab cake sandwich and the sauce was tangy and tasty. While warm throughout, this crab cake was not particularly crisped up. I think this is because its mostly made out of fresh crab meat, instead of a bunch of bread fillers that would toast up. Delicious.

I am still waiting for Capt’n Crabby to come back with his Royale crab salad sandwich. Come on buddy, make it happen.

https://www.facebook.com/captncrabby

Finally, I was filling full (remember, I didn’t eat breakfast! That’s my excuse this time for eating so much….yep) Yet, my Snack Attack experience was not yet done. The Panna Cotta Peddler was also there. I love the name of this pedal powered bike-trailer based Italian dessert server. Having seen the Peddler around town for a long time, it was long time to give it a try. I ordered the Lemon Rosemary kind for $4. Free samples are offered of the flavors. I didn’t grab a photo of the menu.

The Panna Cotta comes in attractive packaging with a tiny little spoon. Wikipedia let this uninformed (uncultered) foodie know that panna cotta (from Italian cooked cream) is an Italian dessert made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set.

This is not a huge amount of panna cotta from the Peddler,and it was fairly light and refreshing. Basically a chilled pudding, the flavors of the lemon rosemary were mostly faint, but noticeable, and did not overwhelm. I found it an interesting alternative to the common cupcake truck or ice cream trucks that are ever present.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Panna-Cotta-Peddler/

Food Truck Stops Here

Denver Food Trucks & Eats Scarfed Down and Reviewed

Category Archives: Colfax!

Pavy’s Food Truck: Friday Night at Fiction Beer Co. on June 17, 2016

SNACK ATTACK — Food truck gathering, August 24, 2013