Thank YOU!

There are many ways a company grows and YOU the people are a HUGE part of our success.  Charlotte About.com put on their 2013 Readers Choice Awards and let you all decide who's the best in many categories.  This year was the first year they included "CLT Food Trucks" as part of the voting. Food Trucks are a big scene in large cities and Charlotte is finally welcoming the new wave of food trucks booming in Charlotte. We were very thankful to be one of five nominees for the Readers Choice Awards along side some great truck.....Tin Kitchen, Papi Queso, The Herban Legend, Napolitanos. 

Here is a rundown of how it works.....The 2013 About.com Charlotte Readers' Choice Awards are designed to showcase some of the best places, businesses, things to do and events in the Queen City. You, the reader, chose the finalists and then you voted for the winner. After some furiously close voting, here they are! The winners in the 2013 About.com Charlotte Readers' Choice Awards!

http://charlotte.about.com/od/2013-Readers-Choice-Awards/ss/Best-Food-Truck-in-Charlotte.htm

This award was possible by YOU the people! 

Now we need to stand up against City Council and revise some of the rules and regulations that hinder the food trucks from doing business and we are working on that. We are asked to park close to neighborhoods so folks can grab a bite to eat on their way home or some food to go, unfortunately, we cannot be parked within 400 ft of residential housing so that leaves us with minimal options till we can hopefully, make change. Stay tuned as we we share our ventures down that road. If you are interested in participating with us please email us at RoamingFork@gmail.com

9 Food Trucks - "Battling for a great cause"

Roaming Fork "Bistro on Wheel's" - 2013 People's Choice Award

Food Truck Fight-Charlotte Relay For Life Event

The Charlotte Food Fight put on by the Charlotte Relay for Life was a great success raising over $5000.00 for the great cause to FIGHT CANCER.  Nine great trucks lined up and battled to win three categories.  First: Best Bacon Dish taken by The Herban Legend, Second: 6 voting Chef's Choice taken by The Tin Kitchen and Third: People's Choice taken by Roaming Fork, Bistro on Wheels. 

We believe all participating trucks were winners producing great foods and giving back to a great cause.  They included:  Root's Down, Papi Queso Gourmet Grilled Cheese, Sal's Roadside Eatery, Gourmet Goombas, The Chrome Toaster and Wingzza all of which can be found on the streets of Charlotte and areas surrounding within a 20 mile radius. 

Don't forget you will be able to visit these trucks and more during the "Uptown Chow Down" food truck rallies starting May 2nd. https://www.facebook.com/ChowDownUptown is the facebook page to follow as they are updating the dates for the 2013 season. 

Spring has sprung

We can't wait for the seasons to change, the sun to shine, trees start to blossom and the warmth to come into our bones. So we are happy to say finally after a crazy winter, spring has sprung.  What does this mean to you? Heading outdoors and enjoying all the great festivals, events that our Queen  City has to offer.  Some great links to follow for events are: www.charlotte.about.com or http://www.charlottesgotalot.com or http://clclt.com. All three really cover the "what's happening in Charlotte along with one more of our favorites http://www.charlottecentercity.org/calendar/ because it shares with you many of the "Food Truck Rallies" that we are involved in.

We enjoying sharing with you, our favorite topics and some of our favorite restaurant.  So when the farmers, CLT businesses and winery's share their goods either local or from around the world we want to pay if forward to you!

Tonight we will attend a fine dinner and wine paring at http://customshopfood.com in the Elizabeth neighborhood. Wine maker Marc Hochar of Chateau Musar is from Lebanon's premier Bekaa Valley Producer.  Lebanon is among the oldest sites of wine production in the world according to Wikipedia and is know to produce some amazing tastings wines. I'm sure we will confirm that later. The great thing about Custom Shop restaurant and Chef Trey Wilson they are committed to supporting local and organic products that bring their customers the finest and freshest  sustainable foods in the area. Trey even opened a local farmers markets on Saturdays that offers products from his local purveyors.

This Saturday, March 23, 2013, Roaming Fork fights. We "Food Fight" to "Fight Cancer" and hope that the attendance blows the roof off so that we can find a cure! The Relay for Life group will host the event and you can find all the information here: https://www.facebook.com/CharlotteFoodFight Be sure to support us as we are the only women/non professional chefs in the contest. We will bring our best of the best and make sure our secret ingredient, bacon, makes your tastebuds vote Roaming Fork, Best Food Truck.  Tickets are available: http://charlottefoodfight.eventbrite.com.

We are looking forward to updating you on the events but more importantly seeing you at the events! Be sure to say hello, hello.

Roaming Forks Menu Teasers "how it began"

For the menu, we wanted to start simple but be creative with classics as Grilled Cheese adding three types of cheeses together and melting that down turning it into an ooey gooey grilled cheese. 

From that we took the three cheese grilled cheese and put a spin on it by adding fresh 12 hr. hickory smoked pulled  pork, and bold & smoky barbecue sauce. The "Original Porky Cheesy" adds butter pickle & onion to the sandwich as that dish is one that has folks coming back for more!  

Lenka created the blackened fish tacos, which is a blackened grilled (not fried) tilapia served with a variety of blends such as farmer fresh grilled corn salsa or in the winter time mango slaw. Most of the ingredients in the summer are all from local farmers markets/farmers. 

We love being able to visit the farmers and see how they are farming, what is growing and from there see how we can incorporate it into our dishes. 

Another popular and unique dish that we occasionally include is an ostrich burger.  A great fall/winter menu item such as the  the smoked meatloaf is always a hit. The meatloaf is a classic family recipe smoked for four hours then seared on the grill and served as a sandwich with unique toppings & Kelli’s special sauce, 

We offer unique side items such as Fried Deviled Eggs, Fried Pimento Cheese Balls with Ranch/Sriracha Drizzle, and the well know Parmesan herb White Truffle Crispy French Fries covered in parmesan/pecorino romano cheese, dried herbs from our Aunt Tina's garden and spritzed with white truffle oil. 

Photo of parmesan herb fries compliments of Victor Ahdieh

Other menu items include Korean BBQ served Banh Mi style, the 12 Hr. Hickory Smoked pulled pork sandwich and a variety of Chicken sandwiches that are rotated weekly. 

Since we have been in business we continue to add and change out our menu offerings along with keeping the staple popular dishes. It is important to rotate on the menu so it keeps  you coming back trying new items along with filling your bellies with the items we are known for. Be sure to check out our Facebook page Roaming Fork, for weekly, daily, special event menus.

Why and How we hit the "Food Truck Market"

Roaming Fork was established in May 2011 when Kelli Crisan and Lenka Bazantova Owners/Operators moved to Charlotte NC from

Orlando, Florida. 

A little background on the two of us begins with Lenka having an extensive background in the restaurant business along with being a wine sommelier and Kelli having a passion for cooking, drinking the wines, sales, marketing and working closely with customers. 

Being big foodies and knowing we were onto something that Charlotte had not yet experienced as big cities have we hunted all over Charlotte for a mobile unit along with visiting local farmers and purveyors that could help build our business.  We wanted to offer unique foods that would create a buzz, be fun and tasty to eat paired with items that are not typically found in restaurants.  Having a retrofitted kitchen in a food truck that moves from location to location was a perfect idea for the two of us as we wanted to share our passion of cooking and share it all over Charlotte not just be in one location.  

The food truck world has really taken off here in Charlotte and we are excited that there are a growing variety of trucks offering their own unique items. It is important for each food truck to be know for their "Speciality items" and give Charlotte the choice of many great foods. You can find food trucks together at rallies in such areas as uptown on 7th street for the "UpTown Chow Down" Food Truck Rally or on the First Friday of each month for the "Food Truck and Art Gallery crawl" hosted in Southend. 

Since we have started the business, Roaming Fork was voted “Best French Fries” by CBS Radio-Charlotte., "Best Food Truck 2012" by QC Exclusive and now nominated in the top five for "Readers Choice awards" for best food truck.  Visit the Roaming Fork at their many locations all over Charlotte and be sure to follow them on Twitter, Facebook or the website www.roamingfork.net for calendar of events. 

Read our next blog for how we created our starting menu and growing from there.