On Friday I hit up the very popular, organic and local meat/produce focused Dandelion Kitchen food truck on Nicollet Mall next to the IDS tower in downtown Minneapolis. A small and bright yellow dot contrasted against the dark outline of the very large IDS, Dandelion Kitchen has certainly captured one of the best trafficked downtown locations and has amassed a large and faithful following who regularly wait out long lines to get a taste of what this cute little trailer has to offer.
We arrived just after 11 AM on a Friday. The line was non-existent and the staff ready to take our orders. With their ever changing menu offering a “Smashed Pork” and a “Grilled Cuban” just the day before, I was definitely looking forward to our visit during a very warm early October lunch time. However, after seeing the menu that morning we were pretty disappointed with the fairly mundane options available. With a roasted chicken sandwich, a grilled cheese, and what at first appears to be simply a grilled ham and cheese, I’m sure our long pause prior to ordering was a sobering reminder to Dandelion Kitchen’s staff that with so much competition out on the streets these days they need to be at the top of their game each and every single day.
After much discussion, hem and haws and a last minute change we placed our orders for a Roast Chicken Breast sandwich which was described as “Organic chicken breast with roast red pepper and herbed ricotta, local greens.” When ordering the sandwich standalone it is $7 but when ordering a half sandwich with soup it’s $8 (or $7 for a half with salad). We also ordered a full salad listed as, “Organic microgreens, sliced local pears, pickled beets, toasted pecans and brie,” ($4.50) as well as a full Ham and Brie sandwich with, “All local ham and brie with house-made plum sauce on milk bread,” for $7 more. Topped off with a Lemon-Ginger homemade soda for $2 we had pretty decent sounding $21.50 lunch before tip.
We found a place to sit and laid out the lunch before us. The half Roast Chicken Breast sandwich was short and appeared unusually crusty which allowed the innards to go straight out of the back after the first bite. The chicken itself was juicy and the greens fresh but the herbed ricotta lacked any depth of flavor. The very subtle roasted peppers weren’t enough to pull this extremely average sandwich together and provide the necessary boost to elevate it to the $7 they were charging for a full. The soup of the day was Butternut Squash. While seasonally appropriate it was just as poorly executed as the sandwich it was paired beside. Watery, with very little texture, Dandelion Kitchen failed to add anything to the soup to help enrich what was, at best, tasteless gruel. The $8 paid for this combination was a huge waste and I seriously began to wonder what everyone saw in Dandelion Kitchen which made it worthwhile to wait in long lines every day for their mediocre options.
After the completely useless squash soup and chicken sandwich I held very little hope for what I first imagined to be a very simple grilled ham and cheese with a salad that looked like it came out of a nearby co-op’s deli case rather than a forward-looking food truck. Thankfully my visual assessment was way off. The local ham was meaty, tasty, and provided a nice and chewy texture to bite through before hitting the soft and delicious slab of brie wedged between the ham and bread. The very subtle homemade plum sauce, something I saw absolutely no value in when reading it on the menu, actually provided the much needed sweetness which mitigated the strong mustard flavor and excellent texture provided by the stone ground seeds. What at first seemed to be be a definite miss turned out to be a very tasty sandwich which I was pleased to try more than twice due to the kind allowance provided by my coworker. But while the Grilled Ham and Brie sandwich was one of the best things I’ve eaten out of the local food truck scene, the salad was almost as disappointing as the Roast Chicken Breast and Butternut Squash soup. Fresh greens with mushy and thinly sliced pear coupled with an oily and tasteless dressing wasn’t saved by a couple of pecans and some pickled beets. It may have been priced appropriately because of the organic greens alone but it certainly didn’t taste like it.
Dandelion Kitchen was able to save some face with the $2 homemade lemon-ginger soda. Not nearly as carbonated as the head after the pour would have indicated, this spicy and tart drink was cool and refreshing. Being a big fan of ginger infused drinks, this was one of the best I’ve had in recent memory and was far better than the bottled Coke and Jarritos options provided by many of the other food carts. While not nearly the level of Spring Grove sodas, Dandelion Kitchen’s lemon-ginger is one I’d recommend to anyone.
Overall Dandelion Kitchen was hit or miss and when they hit…they hit and when they missed…they missed really big. The long lines are definitely not justified based on our visit on Friday unless everyone is ordering sodas and grilled ham and brie sandwiches but they may be worth your time if you’re into either.
Have you ever eaten at Dandelion Kitchen’s food truck in downtown Minneapolis? If so what did you have? Have you tried any of their other options? Have you tried their sodas or their now unavailable popsicles? How about how you think they compare to other food trucks downtown? Do you believe the long lines are justified even if they are using mostly local and organic items? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Address:
Nicollet Mall, IDS Plaza
Minneapolis, MN
See all the pictures from Dandelion Kitchen Food Truck on Flickr here.
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October 10th, 2011 at 7:29 am
I’ve had their ham and brie sandwich and loved it. I agree that it’s one of the best things you can get from the food trucks downtown. The lemon-ginger soda is great too.
Also, Natedogs sells Spring Grove sodas from their cart, or at least they did when I got lunch from them one day.
October 10th, 2011 at 8:34 am
I’ve been to Dandelion a few times – and have always ordered the BLT, which is good (thick, smoky bacon, avocado instead of mayo) except for the bread. Must be the same kind of baguette as the chicken breast sandwich – it’s so crusty that everything shoots out the back, making for very messy eating. It also leaves my mouth feeling like I’ve just thrown back an entire box of Capt’n Crunch – the roof of my mouth feels torn to pieces!
I’d go back for that BLT, but the bread is what’s stopping me. I know it’s fresh and local, but why couldn’t it be a softer roll, like the bread that Smack Shack uses for it’s Po Boys – now that’s good bread!
Oh yeah – the ginger soda was good. But doesn’t make up for the bread!
October 10th, 2011 at 9:34 am
I had their BLT too and had the same complaints about the bread. It was extremely tough and difficult to bite/chew. I thought it was an aberration and the bread was below par that particular day, but apparently the bread is always like that. Honestly I don’t see the hype over this place. World Street Kitchen just a few blocks down is much better and offers more variety on their menu. I think a huge reason why they draw such large crowds is because they are in the premier spot for food trucks. If the downtown lunch crowd were willing to walk just a few more blocks down to 5th St or even get off Nicollet and walk down Marquette, they’ll find much better food trucks.
October 10th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
I totally agree with KC and Dan N about the BLT bread – it was awful and such a disappointment. I do NOT need a mouth workout to go with my sandwich. They could take some pointers from WSK’s bahn mi bread – same idea, but actually edible. I had the corn bisque when I got the BLT too (this was much earlier in the summer) and it sounds like what you described the butternut squash soup. In short – very disappointing. I’ve never returned, even when other people I’m with want to go there – I just went to Nate Dogs down the street instead and had a much better experience. I’d try the ham & brie after your description now, but I was wary to try anything again after both the soup and sandwich I had sucked.
October 10th, 2011 at 5:58 pm
I’m a noob when it comes to food trucks. Is tipping expected? Why?
October 10th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
Aside from a bite here or there, I keep my meat-eating in check most of the time. Unless of course I’m heading out to new spot that promises locally sourced, organic ingredients and meat from nearby family farms, like Dandelion Kitchen.
I went for lunch today after seeing the truck parked outside all summer and hearing good things about it. As with all of my meaty adventures, I spent many hours over the weekend studying the limited menu and trying to decide what I would have when the big day finally arrived. Not surprisingly, I still hadn’t made up my mind when I came upon the bright yellow truck. I finally settled on the Ham and Brie, and it sounds like that was the right choice. Lucky me, since I seem to almost never make the right choice (hence all of the hours I spend deliberating).
I really enjoyed the sandwich and was glad I opted for the whole in addition to the salad. The ham was thick and tasty, and the jam was just the right amount of sweet. I didn’t know that I was tasting the mustard, but I liked that it was there. My only bit of criticism is that the cheese wasn’t as melted as I would have liked. Otherwise, a very yummy sandwich that was well worth sneaking into my closet.
October 11th, 2011 at 4:13 am
[...] profoundly mixed review of the Dandelion Kitchen food truck over on Lazy Lightning, local food PR personality Chris Kalal gets 120 days in the [...]
October 11th, 2011 at 8:26 am
I had their breakfast (fried egg) sandwich at the Midtown Farmer’s Market, and it was amazing. Pesto, toast, parmesan… incredible. Haven’t seen them at the market for a long time, though.
October 11th, 2011 at 10:07 am
To whom it may concern:
Bill is very opinionated, probably doesn’t have a soul, and loathes anything resembling the bland food Minnesotans tend to gravitate towards with a level of contempt generally reserved for kitten abusers.
On a lighter note, ricotta is delicious and the mere notion of fresh herbed ricotta excites me on a level that I wasn’t previously aware existed.
October 11th, 2011 at 10:10 am
He’s right except that this particular ricotta was more like fat free ricotta. It had texture and looked like ricotta but didn’t taste like anything. YMMV.
October 11th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
Why would anyone have contempt for kitten abusers?
October 14th, 2011 at 7:03 am
[...] may just be better when it comes to the local food truck/trailer scene. Slightly smaller than Dandelion Kitchen‘s trailer, YumMi was able to pack quite a bit of punch into their sandwiches. The second [...]
January 25th, 2012 at 7:31 am
[...] Caribbean Cuisine 13. Andale Taqueria and Mercado 14. Shamrock’s 15. Joey Nova’s 16. Dandelion Kitchen 17. YumMi 18. Krungthep Thai 19. The Blue Door Pub 20. The Lexington 21. Taste of Thailand 22. [...]
August 1st, 2012 at 1:32 pm
As part of our Food Truck Wednesday Food Truck Tour 2012 today, we got down to DK for lunch today.
I tried the Ham and Brie. If I were ranking this sandwich on all available lunch options to me on a given day, it would easily be in the top 5 or 7. It was very tasty, the arugula gave it a spicy note to go with all of the other great flavors like the mustard, apple, etc. It was a bit high at 8 bucks, but the quality of the food was evident, so I will give the price a pass for that.
My only “problem” is that I think I won’t go back given my other options. Vellee’s Bahn Mi or Smack Shack lobster roll both are a 9.5 or 10 if I want a sandwich down there. This is maybe an 8 or 8.5 and that is just not good enough, sadly (or awesomely, actually).
To highlight my point. There were four of us that ate lunch there today. 3 of us are the main “Food Truck Wednesday Food Truck Tour 2012″ regulars and the fourth joined us for the first time. My two regulars agreed with me. The other person thought it was the best thing she has ever eaten (and it probably was).
Trying SushiFix this Friday for lunch and then we have designated the rest of August as return visit month. Gonna hit our favorites the rest of the year. VD, WSK, SS, Hola are on that list already.
No worries Bill, you can always go to Twisted Fork for a yummy burger at lunch. Ha ha Ha ha ha.