The South's Best Food Trucks

There's just something about a meal served from the side of a truck. For one thing, we actually have to track down these vehicles, which can be an adventure in itself. But their most powerful appeal comes from their menu boards. These rolling restaurants are making some of the most innovative and exciting food in the South—often from scratch. "With a food truck, you get to see the chef's mind in action," says Paul Inserra, owner of American Meltdown in Durham, North Carolina, one of the first grilled-cheese trucks in the country. "Chefs want to play. They want to experiment. And food trucks give us the opportunity to try out new techniques and tweak many culinary standards." Given the South's well-known passion for food, it's no surprise that our region's trucks are on a roll, and with every new twist on a taco it seems clear that these mobile eateries will be parked here for a while. From Arkansas to Washington, D.C., here's a look at some of our favorite trucks for grabbing a bite on the go.

A grilled cheese might be delicious on its own, but it can also serve as a blank canvas for a chef like Paul Inserra, who has built a thriving career by taking toasted bread and melted cheese to new levels. Consider the Dirty South: pimiento cheese, sweet corn, and andouille sausage. "Most of our meals are fussy and chef-driven," Inserra says. "Honestly, I thought they'd be hard to sell, but we've been going strong for four years." Order the Pigs 'N' Figs, a marriage of Black Mission figs, speck, and goat cheese drizzled with balsamic vinegar on sourdough bread. Find American Meltdown at the Durham farmers' market, food truck rodeos, and various breweries around town. americanmeltdown.org

Remember your grandmother's homemade meatballs? Now you can get them on a bun, served out of a renovated UPS truck. Barone Meatball Company roams the streets of downtown Raleigh, dishing out an assortment of meatball sandwiches, from the traditional marinara to the more off-centered Buffalo Chicken Ball. The food truck gives owner Stephen Dewey a chance to pay homage to his Italian heritage while branching out as a chef. "We always have a Mom's Italian on the menu—that's our standard," he says. "But I want to do more than just Italian meatballs." Dewey always puts a meatless ball on the menu (his wife is vegetarian) and has a series of meatballs that pay homage to his favorite sandwiches—Cuban Meatballs, Reuben Balls, Bacon Cheeseburger Balls. If you're lucky, the Holiday Turkey Balls will be on the menu when you track down the truck. It's a decadent turkey meatball layered over a bed of mashed potatoes and then covered in gravy. Look for the truck at one of Raleigh's downtown breweries during the week. baronemeatball.com

Know what's way better than a regular hot dog? A bacon-wrapped hot dog. Foodie Fiction, which travels Tennessee's Tri-Cities area, specializes in not specializing. Here you'll find elevated standards—like macaroni and cheese cut into cubes and then breaded and fried—but the truck also serves genre-blending dishes like the caramelized kimchi quesadilla, a spicy, buttery kimchi with cheese and cilantro. Owner Michael Archdeacon's culinary career has taken him around the world from Asian kitchens to the Caribbean to Hawaii, and he brings all of these influences into Foodie Fiction, which he describes as "squarely fusion." It's the opportunity to experiment that holds his interest. "There's something liberating about operating a food truck," Archdeacon says. "There's no pressure to pump out the same thing over and over." The menu is ever evolving, but look for the Coconut Lemongrass Chicken Soup and the Brie-LT. Check Foodie Fiction's Facebook page for a weekly schedule and locations. facebook.com/foodie-fiction

So here's a sweet idea: Build your own doughnuts. Hi-Five, which opened in 2013, invites you to choose from five different glazes and a dozen toppings, and bakers will put the creation together for you. (You can also order their premade specials.) Find them at breweries, flea markets, and even gyms all over Louisville. hifivedoughnuts.com

There are ice-cream trucks, and then there's HipPOPS, where traditional Italian gelati and sorbets, as well as frozen yogurt, get updated with new flavors and customizable toppings, all wrapped around a wooden stick. The truck has a gorgeous window display showing off more than 300 bars, all of which are handcrafted by owner Tony Fellows and his team in their own microcreamery. Pick your favorite flavor—from mint to Mexican chocolate chipotle—and then choose from three rich chocolate dips before finishing your bar with any of 12 different toppings, like crushed pretzels or shredded coconut. "Pair a certain flavor of gelato with the right dip and the right topping, and you get this explosion of flavor and texture," Fellows explains. We especially like the Godfather house special, which combines pistachio gelato, semisweet Belgian chocolate dip, and crushed pistachios. Look for the HipPOPS truck in Miami at least five days a week. hippops.com

LurnyD's looks like Scooby-Doo's Mystery Machine—only bigger—and it's serving up the kind of grub that Scooby and Shaggy would probably drool over. Owner Lauren Davis (aka Lurny D) refers to it as Southern street food, but we're calling it what it is: burgers. Really good, inventive burgers. Take your standard hand-shaped patty and add Sloppy Joe fixings and jalapeños, or mix it up with deep-fried kimchi. The Southwestern Burger, covered with spicy pepper Jack and homemade pico de gallo, is the best seller, but we have a soft spot for the unfortunately named Goober Burger, which is smothered with peanut butter and bacon. Save room for a side of LurnyD's Sloppy Fries, which are topped with a delicious homemade pimiento cheese and Sloppy Joe sauce. lurnydsgrille.com

Chef Thai Phi takes the Vietnamese comfort food he grew up with and brings it to life by incorporating some of the best ingredients from Charleston farmers, bakers, and butchers. You'll find a rotating assortment of Vietnamese staples, such as banh mis and pho, alongside deconstructed rice bowls with pulled pork, fatty brisket, and other ingredients that play to Charleston tastes. His dishes are as beautiful as they are delicious. "I love taking Southern comfort food and applying it to the Vietnamese dishes I grew up with," Phi says. "Even something as simple as blending fruit with protein—it's so much fun." Order whatever broth is on the menu—it's usually loaded with seasonal vegetables—and wash it down with a Toasted Sweet Iced Tea, made with roasted ginger, toasted jasmine rice, matcha green tea, and spearmint. Pink Bellies is popular with students at the College of Charleston, so look for it downtown. pinkbellies.com

Hannah Pickle, owners of Raw Girls, chose a different route for their innovative food truck. Amy, who trained at The Culinary Institute of America, uses her vintage trailer to dish out healthful grub: freshly pressed juices, salads, and homemade broths. It's all vegetarian and all delicious—so delicious, in fact, that this past year Raw Girls has expanded from one food truck to three. "We thought it would be a tough sell in Memphis, but people are really responding," Amy says. "I'm not a healthy person with good intentions. I'm a chef who's focusing on food that tastes good but happens to be healthy." If you're looking for juice, order the Green Love Bomb, a blend of fruits and herbs, including lemon, ginger, and fennel. And definitely have a bowl of Medicinal Mushroom Broth, made with chaga mushrooms. raw-girls-memphis.myshopify.com

While we're proud of our culinary traditions here in the South, you can't argue with this "Yankee" import—the lobster roll, a buttery and delicate sandwich that capitalizes on the lobster's sweet and salty flavor. Red Hook Lobster Pound slings what is arguably the best lobster roll below the Mason-Dixon. Owner Doug Povich grew up eating Maine lobster rolls at his family's summer home and was eager to introduce the tradition to the Nation's Capital six years ago. The city responded kindly. He now has two trucks and has spoken of opening a restaurant. "The key to a good lobster roll is using the knuckle and claw meat, because that's the sweetest part of the lobster," Povich says. "Once you've had a good one, you can't get enough of it." Red Hook Lobster Pound serves traditional Maine-style lobster rolls, with the lobster tossed in a light, lemon-based mayo, as well as the warm Connecticut style, which calls for lobster poached in butter. redhooklobsterdc.com

Chef Erica Waksmunski brings Southeastern favorites (Tennessee hot chicken and vinegar-based barbecue) to the streets of Austin, serving such classics as creamed corn, pulled pork, and deviled eggs out of a 1970s Airstream "land yacht." Her goal is to take iconic Southern dishes back to their roots. "I don't know when Southern fare got to be so high-end," Waksmunski says. "What happened to the old meat 'n' three? I wanted to make food that I could get behind. I want people to be happy and full, for not a lot of money." Occasionally, she'll even organize a prix fixe, nine-course "chef's table" menu, serving fancy dishes on plastic picnic tables right there on the pavement. "It's my way of poking fun at fine dining," she says. Most weekends you can find the trailer parked in front of Wonderland, a music venue on East Sixth Street. redstarsouthern.com

You might expect to see a few of the items from Root Down's menu on a food truck—catfish po'boy, pulled pork sandwich with pimiento cheese—but dig deeper and you'll find elegant surprises like cassoulet, rabbit étouffée, and chicken confit. Dano Holcomb, a classically trained chef in country French and New Orleans cuisine, uses the Root Down food truck to offer Asheville his spin on Creole. Holcomb studied in New Orleans, immersing himself in the city's food culture. "I was taken by how the chefs there had relationships with the fishermen and farmers who provided the food, as well as the diners who came through their doors," he says. "I wanted that with the food truck." Feel free to start with something simple—the pulled pork and pimiento cheese sandwich. Holcomb makes the pimiento cheese with pickle juice and then fries it before stacking pork on top. But if there's rabbit on the menu, order it. Look for Root Down roaming Asheville's brewery and festival scene. rootdownfoodcart.com

This catering business has taken its locally sourced food to the streets of Birmingham, and diners couldn't be happier. Shindigs fare runs the gamut from handheld street food, such as free-range chicken sandwiches and veggie burgers, to more white-tablecloth entrées—duck cassoulet or roasted chicken over sweet potato mash with herb-wilted spinach and wild-mushroom jus. Even "common" handhelds get the Shindigs treatment: That chicken sandwich is layered with homemade pimiento cheese and topped with local Conecuh sausage, along with a pepper jelly made from ramp (sometimes called wild leeks or spring onions). "We're getting the same ingredients that we use in our fine dining experience," says Shindigs owner Mac Russell. "We just twist it so the food coming out of the truck is a little less pretentious." The menu changes constantly, depending largely on what local farmers have on hand. So pay attention to the weekly special, where the truck dishes out one-of-a-kind entrées like brisket with wild-mushroom farro, dried cherries, and arugula. You can find Shindigs serving lunch at various spots downtown. facebook.com/shindigscatering

Fusion, at its core, is about the seamless marriage of a chef's favorite things. In the case of Will Turner's Blaxican food truck, which he parks in different spots throughout Atlanta at least five days a week, those two things are an unlikely pairing: Mexican and soul food. The results of that experimentation are no-brainer combinations like Mexican rice and black-eyed peas, and smoked sausage with grilled onions and peppers layered into a taco. But the true stroke of genius from this truck has to be the braised collard green quesadillas. (Turner leaves on a bit of the stem to provide a little crunch.) The Mexy Mac n Cheese (with jalapeños) isn't bad either. facebook.com/BlaxicanFoodTruck

The Southern-Asian fusion that chef Justin Patterson has been serving out of his Little Rock food truck since 2012 is so popular that he has just opened a restaurant. Don't fret, though: The truck is still running. "On the surface, you might think Southern and Asian foods won't match, but it works," Patterson says. Think grits cooked in miso before being topped with shrimp dusted in Korean chili powder. Or Chinese steamed buns filled with pulled pork. The wildest (and most popular) offering has to be the zesty chicken and dumplings—nothing like what your grandmother likely cooked. Instead, grilled chicken, rice-cake dumplings, and shiitake mushrooms are doused in spicy black bean chili sauce. thesoutherngourmasian.com

Texas native Rachel Black saw no reason to stop at classic chicken and waffles when she ditched her career in IT to open the Waffle Wagon. "My family thought I was crazy," Black says, "but then they tasted my Monte Cristo waffle with ham, turkey, melted Swiss cheese, and raspberry preserves, and they realized I was on to something." Denton diners have come to the same conclusion. Folks in the small college town line up for Black's open-faced sandwiches, which you might find anytime from breakfast to late night, depending on the day of the week. "That's the beauty of brunch," Black says. "You can eat it at any point during the day." Choose the classic chicken and waffles, or get wild with a Brunch Burger (exactly what it sounds like) or the Elvis-inspired Peanut Butter, Bacon, and Banana waffle. facebook.com/TheWWDenton

Ever been to Canada? If so, you might've sampled poutine—a concoction of french fries, gravy, and cheese curd—popular with late-night diners. Thanks to this Greenville food truck, the South has a similarly decadent take on the potato: Disco Tots, which are Tater Tots drowning in white Cheddar gravy. That's not to say Thoroughfare is a one-hit wonder. The menu from this retro-inspired food truck is as varied as they come, with everything from a meatloaf-and-pimiento cheese sandwich to beef-and-cheese empanadas to fried mahi mahi tacos. "My husband and I wanted to take the food we were making for each other at home and share it on a larger scale," explains Jessica Barley, who owns the truck with husband Neil. "The food-truck scene was just emerging in Greenville, so we jumped at the opportunity." The weekly specials are truly special, but we're in love with what Thoroughfare does with gravy. Look for the food truck serving dinner at some of Greenville's popular breweries and beer gardens. thoroughfarefoodtruck.com

Elaine Thompson never tried Indian food until she was studying at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. That's when her love affair with the spicy cuisine (and with her Mumbai-raised husband, Lokesh Vale) began. Now, the culinary duo take their passion for Lokesh's native cuisine and use it to create on-the-go meals tailored to the American palate. Think french fries smothered in spicy chicken masala and cool yogurt dressing. "We take some of the more well-known Indian dishes but turn them into things that are more recognizable for Americans," Thompson says. The sandwiches on warm naan bread are popular, but check out the "curritos"—burritos stuffed with basmati rice, lamb, sautéed veggies, and yogurt dressing. You can find the Twisted Indian and its sister food truck, the Twisted Iron (savory-and-sweet waffle bites and sandwiches), throughout Tampa and St. Petersburg. thetwistedindian.com