The DC cheesecake truck

In a few short years, DC’s gone from having only dirty-water dog trucks to no less than 40 types of roving foodmobiles. One of them, the Sweetz Cheesecake Truck, sells only its namesake. That’s pretty ballsy when you consider how polarizing cheesecake is.

These strawberry and lemon-blueberry cheesecakes survived a Metro trip and car ride home.

Chances are, you know someone who doesn’t do cheesecake because it’s too rich—or they hate cream cheese—or both.  Let’s consider the usual suspects: Cheesecake Factory is the Ben & Jerry’s of cheesecakes* as far as density, so it can take a couple sittings to finish a single piece.

Meanwhile, Junior’s is the gold standard of the classic cheesecake but again, it’s not exactly light fare. This is probably why cheesecake is dessert anathema to even the most dedicated sugar addicts.

These individual cheesecakes from the Cheesecake Truck, however, are the antithesis of the heavy cheesecake. Lots of air whipped into the cake keeps things light. Depending on which flavor your get, it’s sitting on a chocolate cookie crumb or graham-type crust. Each is about 3” in diameter—intimidating at first, until you realize how easily your fork sinks into it. Pretty soon, you’ve polished off one on your own.

Flavors vary every day/season. I tried the black forest, strawberry, and lemon-blueberry. The black forest (chocolate, cherries, chocolate-cookie base) was my favorite. It didn’t last long enough to make it into the photo.

*Ben & Jerry’s has very little air in their ice cream.

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Now that’s what a food truck should look like

Matt Targon is a sculptor who’s hired by companies to pimp out their food mobiles. (He was profiled in the July/August issue of Food Network Magazine.) Imagine one of these rolling down Pennsylvania Ave, or at Truckeroo.

Photo from wowvehicles.com

Short of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs coming true, this is a kid’s dream. Good Humor guy who drives up my street, take note.

Photo from wowvehicles.com

Sweetbites, a magical truck that dispenses cupcakes and more

How could you not be drawn to a truck that looks like this? (Yes, that’s a cupcake display in the window.)

It was a thousand degrees outside when I caught up with the truck in Farragut Square last week. I kept my haul modest so it wouldn’t be destroyed in the heat: a salted caramel cupcake and chocolate banana bread.

Salted caramel frosting can be overwhelming, but this one nicely balanced the creamy, salty, and sweet. However, the cake could’ve used a bit more moisture. Same went for the banana bread. A layer of chocolate icing helped drive home the flavor, but the bread needed more bananas, more oil, more something to make it less crumbly.

Follow the Sweetbites Truck here or here.

Dessert truck NYC needs to come to DC

There’s something cool about getting really great food from a truck. Like, how do they cram so much tastiness into such a teeny space? How high-tech is the setup back there? And will I be able to track it down today? It’s all part of the mystique of the food truck.

Well, the Bobby Flay bread pudding throwdown has had me foaming at the mouth to try the Dessert Truck’s winning chocolate bread pudding. It was one of the food stops on my ever-growing list of places to try in NY. So on a recent business trip to NYC, I swung by to pick up something to bring home.

The bread pudding, which is less bread than pudding, comes with a bacon custard that’s just smoky enough. It wasn’t a gratuitous use of bacon in desserts, which was a relief. The pudding reminds me of the filling in dark chocolate lava cakes–pure liquid richness. This isn’t a dessert for people who don’t like dark chocolate.

Most bread puddings are too bread-y for me, but this one has barely enough bread chunks to give the dessert some texture. It’s really the perfect balance of bitter and sweet, bready and creamy.

These survived a 4+ hour trip from NYC to DC. Presentation suffered, but taste didn't.

Given how much I spent on a cab to/from the truck, I decided to try the creme brulee as well. This was creme brulee properly done, with tons of vanilla bean flecks bringing the flavor. Not as unique a taste combination as the bread pudding, but delicious nonetheless.

Was it worth the cab rides (that cost more than my desserts totaled), and the stress of wondering I’d make it back to Penn Station in time to catch the train? Definitely, yes.

Get the recipe for Dessert Truck’s bread pudding.