Friday, December 6, 2013

Food Truck Diaries, Volume 36: Cheesy Rider

The American cheese.

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Posted By on Fri, Dec 6, 2013 at 3:30 PM

I feel like food trucks are following me everywhere I go. I was walking to the Gangplank/Tucson Weekly HQ and there was a giant orange truck parked in on the south side of the Pioneer building. The truck reads "Cheesy Rider" in cursive. I was intrigued by the smell of toasty bread and downtown pollution. It was lunchtime and I was hungry.

The food truck theme is based off the Peter Fonda American road movie Easy Rider. There's  a  giant cartoon motorcycle rider pasted on both sides of the truck. "Motorcycle riders love it. They park their bikes next to it and take  pictures," says 26 year-old Cheesy Rider co-owner and executive chef Robert Bruce. Bruce is a tall, dark and young culinary student at the Art institute. "We have only been around four months," Bruce said. Sean Scott, Chessy Rider co-owner, is a semi-retired financial adviser that had aspirations to go to culinary school, but that was until he tasted Robert's cooking. "I met Robert at a business event and I really liked his food. Both of us were looking for a change of pace so we went in to business together," Scott said.

The menu is pretty diverse for a food truck that specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches. It's vegetarian friendly. There are more than ten signature sandwiches priced from $4 to $6. There's a monster $20 sandwich called The Grim Reaper Challenge. You are faced with three all American sandwiches, six slices of bacon, fresh guacamole, green chile, two fried eggs, tomato and Texas chili. I'd accept the challenge if someone was willing to go halfsies. But, of course, there's a build your own menu if you're not impressed with Bruce's culinary magic. There's tomato soup for only $2 for those cold afternoons.

I had gone with the All American this time because I'm a man with simple tastes, and I had a bad dog 4th ave dog from an undisclosed source last night. The All American is made up of two sourdough slices with cheddar, American and muenster cheese snuggled in between. I can make the same thing for half the price, but where's the fun in that?

Cheesy Rider was downtown for a La Frontera charity event, but you can catch the food truck this Tuesday and every other week after that at National Bank of Arizona, 335 North Wilmot Road. Click here to visit their website.


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