Did The Pandemic Accidently Fix Rockford’s Food Truck Tuesdays?
Have you tried out this new version of Food Truck Tuesdays at Nicholas Conservatory?
It's not exactly breaking news that the last year wasn't exactly fun. But it's also true that some good things came out of it and one of those things is how the Rockford Park District revamped their weekly food truck event.
I went to at least half of the Food Truck Tuesdays the last time they had them and ate exactly zero food items from any truck. It was just too busy and too crowded. They were cramming 5 or 6 trucks in the little circle driveway in front of Nicholas Conservatory and it just got jammed.
This year, because of the pandemic, they spread 10 or 12 trucks from the Symbol all the way south to that parking lot right by the Rockmen Guardian statues. It was an EXCELLENT setup. There were 3 trucks in the lot by the symbol. 1 or 2 trucks at the other end of that parking lot by Sinnissippi Gardens. There were 3 in the Nicholas Conservatory circle drive where they all were before and another one down the connected parking lot, and then 3 or 4 more in the lot by the Rockmen Guardian.
There were a lot of people there yesterday but no one was crowded with everything being spread out. It also let me get in and out of there in about 20 minutes after ordering from 2 different trucks, more on that in a bit.
An excellent way to do Food Truck Tuesdays is to just drive past the whole thing on 251 from Loves Park to the YMCA. Scout where everything is at and then turn around and go where you want. You can see all the trucks from the road and all but about 2 were easily identifiable.
There are a ton of excellent options. I would like to recommend two of them right here. One would be the Jammin' Jerk Grill. I ordered the Jamaican Philly sandwich and it might be a top 5 sandwich of my life.
We also picked up some BBQ from a truck I was unfamiliar with called Savor. I audibly gasped when I saw the hunk of brisket the guy was slicing up to make sandwiches. The gasp was warranted because the brisket was incredible.
Food Truck Tuesdays go through the end of August, so you have time to make it out there. You won't want to wait though, because I already have about 6 more stops I want to try out over the summer.
You can get all the details on the event here.