Summer is here, and the return of warmer weather and afternoon thunderstorms can only mean one thing–food trucks are back in Smyrna! We last visited Food Truck Tuesday in the summer of 2014, when we ate at Flavours and the Happy Belly. Alas, Flavours is not here tonight, and Happy Belly has had a meltdown. Their generator dies, and they have no way to cook or to keep their food cold. There are a lot of despondent faces inside of the Happy Belly. All of those great Brussels sprouts are going to waste tonight.

The operable trucks are reaping a bonanza. The weather is perfect and Smyrna is ready to eat. In fact, we have never seen it this crowded.

Here’s my view from the Mix’D up truck line. I am fortunate. I count fifty people in line for the Blaxican and fifty more for the King of Pops. We are joined by our friends Randy and Claudia who live around the corner. We can walk to Brawner Park from their house. The three of them are much smarter than I am.

They find the only food truck without a line. Viet Nomie’s specializes in (wait for it) Vietnamese favorites.

We have not tried this truck before. Apparently, Zagat really likes them and they have a review posted outside to prove it.

Eve gets a jazzy noodle boat, which has their jazzy rolls served over rice noodles. Think spring rolls cut up and served over noodles. It comes with a little salad. For $10, she gets a complete meal with rolls, rice, and salad. It is hot and fresh. Sometimes she’s hungry after a food truck dish, but not tonight.

Meanwhile, back in the Mix’D up line, I am getting the true food truck experience.

I wait in line for twenty minutes to order. The guy behind the counter is a bit grumpy.

After I order, I wait another ten minutes or so for my food. I really want a Texas burger, and it’s almost worth the wait.

Angus beef, cheese, bacon, and pulled pork are all topped with slaw. You can see why they don’t give you a top of your bun. How would you ever get this monster in your mouth. It’s a good burger and also very filling. Instead of fries, I give my waistline a break and get the super slaw with it, which has Brussels sprouts in honor of the broken Happy Belly truck. The meal almost looks healthy in the pictures.

It just happens to be Eve’s birthday, and our friends have brought a treat.

There used to be a cupcake truck here, but now it is gone. As a replacement, Randy and Claudia, stop by CamiCakes for a birthday dessert. Due to the heat, they don’t travel well on the walk over, but they taste just as good. Clockwise from the upper left is toasted coconut, strawberry, chocolate with peanut butter icing, and white chocolate macadamia nut. Cami makes an excellent cake.

The bottom line on Smyrna Food Truck Tuesdays: Hey, it’s summer. Go stand in line and then have dinner on the nice lawns of Brawner Park. For the $14 my dinner cost, I probably could have had it in a restaurant with air conditioning and much nicer service, but you should do this at least once this year. It’s what Smyrna does in the summer.

Before We Go:
We’ve been meaning to say a word about the Gimmee Jimmy’s cookies that we received in the mail last month.
You can order these online as a gift, and presto, a few days later, you have two pounds of cookies.

Let’s unwrap the box and see what’s inside.

Cookies! In this case we have oatmeal raisin and chocolate rugelach. This is a sweet treat. The key word is sweet. If you know someone who has a sweet tooth, this is the perfect gift to mark an occasion.

We served these to many people on two different occasions. Our Jewish friends liked the oatmeal raisin cookies the best. Since they have oatmeal and raisins in them, they are probably good for you. The non-Jews liked the rugelach. This is because they probably didn’t grow up eating rugelach. Gimmee Jimmy’s has nailed the taste of the rugelach, but it just doesn’t have the right texture.

You can place your order at https://gjcookies.com/

Disclosure time: Date Night did not pay for our tin of Gimmee Jimmy’s cookies. Our opinions, however, are priceless.