Wait up, summer's not over yet. You can tell because the streets are still lined with the ever-growing food truck culture in Milwaukee. It's Food Truck Week here at OnMilwaukee.com and all week long we're stopping at some of Brew City's best restaurants on wheels in search of the most interesting dishes on offer.
Ever since my colleague Nick Barth hipped me to the waffle dog, I've been chasing after the Eats & Treats Truck and, yesterday, I finally caught up.
According to its owner Chris Jourdan, the Eats & Treats Food Truck has a long history in Brew City. Jourdan is the fourth owner of a truck that's been working the Milwaukee streets since 1982.
Eats & Treats wraps a lot of stuff in waffles and pokes a stick through the middle: hot dogs, beer brats, spicy jalapeno cheddar brats, bacon. I tried the first two. For $4, you get two dogs but the beer brats cost more. Those are $6 a pair.
Think corn dogs but with waffles instead of cornbread, so, of course, the flavor is totally different even if the idea is the same. I loved them both but I had a dilemma. I'm a mustard on a sausage guy, but no way am I putting mustard on a waffle.
Luckily, Jourdan packs some syrup cups into the bag, too, and it's the perfect complement.
I also sampled Eats & Treats' recent menu addition: parmesan garlic fries made with purple potatoes from Treffinger Farms in Palmyra ($5). These are insanely addictive and there's an unexpected charm to noshing on purple French fries.
Perhaps ill-advisedly, from a caloric standpoint -- though definitely not from a flavor standpoint -- I washed it all down with a $6 salted caramel shake.
Check out the OnMilwaukee.com food truck finder to locate Eats & Treats to try one of the waffle dogs. The truck also does burgers, chicken and waffles and other stuff, so I'll be back to check those out.
The truck will be featured on the Travel Channel's "Food Paradise" in early 2015, so stay tuned for that, too.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
