Rock Star Hot Dogs (Food Truck) - Round 2

Another round with Rock Star Hot Dogs. I gave a pretty harsh, but honest first review and said that I would give them another try.  So here I am with another review of a different item from the Rock Star Hot Dog food truck.

This time I ordered the Fat Elvis, which is a 1/3 lb. beef (burger), with cheddar cheese and Applewood smoked bacon on a brioche roll. It also came with lettuce and tomatoes, and I added some ketchup to it. I also added a side of tater tots.

The side of tater tots were great. They were perfectly fried, nicely golden brown and lightly salty. The first bite was a nice crispy crunch, while the inside of the tater tot was warm and soft texture. So, you know that they were not over fried and dried all the way through, as this has happened many times with tater tots no matter where you get them. An extra 30-seconds or minute could make the difference between a good tater tot and bad one.

I didn’t get the Fat Elvis the first time I tried some items from the Rockstar Food truck, I just got the Classic Rocker. I decided to try a different burger to see if it would be prepared a bit better, then my first visit with the food truck. Unfortunately, it was the same experience, where the food sounded and smelled better than it tasted.  After assembling my burger, I took a big bite and my first thoughts of the Fat Elvis were……not impressed. The Fat Elvis, had fresh tomatoes and lettuce, which gave the burger a nice crunch and the tomatoes helped with some sweetness, but the burger was just too dry. The patty was overcooked, so it wasn’t as juicy as it could/should have been. The bun was buttered up on both sides and toasted, but overly toasted, as it became too hard and dry. The bright spot to the burger was the Applewood smoked bacon. It was super crispy and wasn’t overly salty. As I kept eat, because I was hungry, every bite was a struggle, as it was so dry that I had to add more and more ketchup to help.

Another disappointing meal except for the tater tots. So, from now on, if, and that's a big IF, I were to cross paths with this food truck again, I would just order the Tater Tots, if I order anything from them.

I would give this round a 5/10, as I have tried two burgers from them and both times, they were overcooked and buns over-toasted to where they are too dry. I hope they will learn how to properly cook a burger, so there it stays juicy and flavorful. If you are only going to serve hot dogs and burgers, you better know how to cook them properly or people won’t be coming back.

Just Roll With It Ice Cream - A Unique Ice Cream Experience

I had the chance to stop by a new ice cream shop by Arizona State University (ASU) after graduation the other night. The ice cream shop is called Just Roll With It Ice Cream and is located on University and Rural.

It was a happening place, since the graduation ceremony just finished and was right by the Wells Fargo stadium. The staff was extremely friendly and all had smiles on their faces. It’s a very unique concept as far as ice cream that I’ve never had before. The menu had some a nice variety to choose from, from fruit to chocolate mixtures.

First, you would pick which flavor you would like, then you place your order and then you follow around the counter until your ice cream creation is finished. Along the way, you can see them make all the cream mixtures. I ordered the Choco Mania (#4), which start off with the cream and Oreo cookies. They take the cream and pour it onto a super cold platter and put the cookie in the middle and then start to mash it, while mixing the cream with the cookie. They continue to do this until they get a smooth consistency and then this is where it gets a little different. They then spread the smooth ice cream into a sheet of ice cream, that takes up most of the platter. Once it settles for a moment, they being to “scrap” the ice cream into strips and roll them up. They get about 3-5 rolls of ice cream and then place them into a cup, then add some toppings to finish it off. My ice cream came with an Oreo cookie, a chocolate Pocky stick, whipped cream and chocolate drizzle.

The wait for the ice cream is a bit longer than I expected, but would think it’s because of how they make each order. I hope they would be able to speed up the process in the future somehow.

Once I got my ice cream, I sat down and started to dig into this unique creation. It was a big difficult to scoop, since it’s not a traditional ice cream that you can just get a spoon full, but that you had to break the rolls of ice cream first and then get a spoon full. Once that was accomplished, I could get some ice cream, some of the whipped cream and chocolate drizzle and it tasted pretty good. As I ate it more and more, it’s not the usual soft creamy texture of ice cream you are used to which melts in your mouth right away. But the texture and first few moments of every spoonful, tasted like an old container of ice cream and you get that first layer that has a bit of frost bite on it. It takes a moment for it to melt on your tongue and the flavors don’t pop out at you right way. So, it's not bad, just a different texture of "normal" ice cream. 

Also, the ease of eating it really isn’t there, since it’s in a cup and the rolled ice cream is harder to simply scoop. As I mentioned before, you need to break the rolls (of ice cream) and then scoop them, so when doing this, it creates a bit of a mess….so prepare yourself with plenty of napkins. I wish they would use those taco boats instead of these little bowls, as the boats would have more space for you to break the ice cream and then get a spoonful of everything.

I was also able to try the Stranana (#2), which I thought was a bit better than the Choca Mania. The flavors seemed to complement each other better and had a creamier texture and taste, as compared to the Choco Mania.

Overall, this was a unique experience and it was fun to watch them make my order. I would give them a 7.5/10 and the reason why I gave them that score is because of the ease of eating the ice cream and my overall impressions of the textures and flavors. It takes a bit to get used to this unique ice cream, but would try them again and see if they have come up with any new flavors.  Go and give them a try and let me know what you think of your Just Roll With It Ice Cream experience. 

Rock Star Hot Dogs (Food Truck)

This food truck has a carnival type look to it, serving a variety of hot dogs, burgers and sides; fries, tots and nachos. I was pretty excited to try the food based on the menu that had a ton of different things to eat.

Today I was super hungry and ordered one of their specialty dogs and a burger. No sides for me…. I’m trying to watch what I eat. ;) I ordered the Santana Sonora: All beef, bacon wrapped dog, bacon, pinto beans, Pico de Gallo, green chili strips, avocado crème drizzle, mayonnaise topped with pepper jack cheese on a torta roll.  I ordered mine without mayonnaise.

I also ordered a burger, the Classic Rocker: 1/3lb beef, American Cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion on a brioche roll.

I started off my meal with the Santana Sonora and overall it was good. This was my first time trying a Sonora dog, as I have seen them all around and so I gave it a try. It was really filling, since it had so many topping. I thought that toppings all meshed well together, from the sweet avocado crème drizzle, to the crisp salty bacon wrapped dog and the refreshingly cool Pico de Gallo. I did think that the bun (or roll) to hot dog ratio was off, as the torta roll was a bit much. I believe they used the torta roll, so that it would be able to hold all the ingredients, but as you ate the Sonora dog, many of the toppings would fall off and then you were stuck with all bun (roll) with nothing on it.  I think if the Santana Sonora had a different bun/roll, it might have been a bit better and easier to eat. I would have also liked a little spice to it, so maybe next time I try a Sonora dog, I will add a little Tapatío or something to spice it up a bit.

On to the burger now, the Classic Rocker burger….it was a letdown. The burger had the basic ingredients; lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onions. I added the jalapenos for some spice and a little ketchup. In my opinion, the burger was over cooked and the brioche roll was over toasted. They buttered up the roll and placed it on the cook top to toast it up, but it ended up being too crispy and dried out the bun.  The meat was overcooked and dried out from it. It might have been pretty decent if it was cooked medium rare or even maybe a medium, which has a slight pink in the middle. But this was cook all the way through and became chewy and didn’t have much flavor.

Overall the Santana Sonora and the Classic Rocker from the Rock Star Hot Dogs food truck was just OK, but nothing special. I would say that they were a bit of a letdown, since there wasn’t a huge line up for food, so the food preparation could have been better.  I would give them another try if I come across the truck again to see if there are any improvement, but I would give the food a 6/10.