The street food truck phenomenon is sweeping the nation and St. Louis is starting to get in on the craze. Within the past 18 months, St. Louis went from having no food trucks to having a dozen trucks on the street today. The trucks mainly serve the downtown and Central West End areas with some exceptions. While I was in town, I made it my mission to find a food truck and test out the St. Louis food truck market. That's when I hit my first roadblock. I wanted to find a truck for dinner and I learned that none of the trucks in St. Louis have dinner service. So it took a little strategy to work out my schedule, but I was able to make it work. The next big concern was deciding which truck to frequent. After some diligent menu research, I settled on Shell's Coastal Cuisine.
Shell's Coastal Cuisine started in May of 2011 as the brainchild of chef-owner, Shelley McMahan and it brings a menu based on Carribbean influences to St. Louis. McMahan, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu's St. Louis school, has a number of fellow graduates helping her staff the truck.
On Wednesday, I found the truck serving lunch on the campus of Wells Fargo Advisors. The truck has a fresh, beach theme and as I approached I could hear island music playing from the truck. It was incredibly hot the day I went to eat there and despite the heat, the staff was very friendly. McMahan took my order and unfortunately I didn't arrive in time to get the Blue Heaven's Shrimp Melt. I was momentarily sad since that is the menu item that made my mouth water when I did my research. However, the smell of steak on the flat top grill inside the truck made up my mind for me. I ordered the steak tacos and sweet potato chips as a side.
My food was served quickly and I chose to have my tacos on corn tortillas. The truck offers both corn and flour tortillas. They also provide a number of different hot sauces. After setting myself up, I took my first bite and was immediately pleased. The tortillas were soft and warm and the steak was juicy with a nice crust on the outside. The sweet potato chips were crispy and the sweetness of the chips were well balanced by the dusting of salt. The chips were $2 and the two tacos were $7.50. With a soda, my total bill was $11 and I was delightfully full.
Overall, my first St. Louis food truck experience was a positive one. My hope would be that over time the trucks will begin serving dinner and so on subsequent trips I can explore more of the food trucks in the evening when I visit St. Louis. For now I was glad to share a meal and some conversation with McMahan and her staff. You can see their passion in the design of the truck, the ambiance (yes a food truck can have ambiance), and the food they carefully prepare.
Even my co-worker enjoyed his meal.
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