Nashville’s food truck scene grew up alongside the city’s restaurant boom and hasn’t faded the way food truck cultures did in some cities once the novelty wore off. Several of the trucks that launched in the early 2010s are still running, some have turned into brick-and-mortar restaurants, and the weekly Street Eats events have given trucks consistent venues rather than leaving operators to hunt for foot traffic independently.
The Grilled Cheeserie
Start here. The Grilled Cheeserie launched in 2010 when Crystal De Luna-Bogan (Le Cordon Bleu trained) and her husband Joseph Bogan built a truck around gourmet grilled cheese at a time when Nashville’s food truck scene barely existed. It has won Nashville Scene’s Best Food Truck award eight consecutive years. It has been featured on the Food Network multiple times. It now also operates a brick-and-mortar in Hillsboro Village, but the truck still runs.
The signature is the Pimento Mac & Chee Melt: pimento cheese, cheddar, mac and cheese, tomato, and Benton’s bacon on country white sourdough. The Smashville Burger, the Birria Totchos, and the Old Fashioned Tomato Soup round out the menu. None of it sounds radical on paper and all of it is executed better than it has any right to be from a mobile kitchen.
Yayo’s OMG (Original Mexican Gourmet)
Running since 2011, Yayo’s earned a feature on Eat St., the Food Network Canada series that documented North America’s best food trucks in their early years. The Legend taco (brisket, chorizo, and chicharron combined) is the item that gets mentioned first. The Mahi Mahi Fish Taco and the Sonora Style Steak Taco are the other reliable orders. Yayo’s has the kind of longevity that separates it from trucks chasing a trend: it’s been doing this for over a decade and the operation reflects that stability.
Mas Tacos Por Favor
Mas Tacos started as a truck before transitioning to a brick-and-mortar at 732 McFerrin Ave in East Nashville. The truck origin story matters because the food still tastes like it was designed for a truck: pulled pork, cast-iron chicken, fried avocado tacos. The fried avocado in particular became one of those East Nashville dishes that people reference when explaining why the neighborhood’s food culture is worth taking seriously.
Smoke Et Al
Smoke Et Al brands itself as “beyond BBQ” and means it. The operation serves barbecue in formats that go past the standard plate: BBQ in tacos, built into biscuits, or plated classically. For visitors who want Nashville’s barbecue tradition without sitting down at a full-service restaurant, Smoke Et Al handles that.
Finding the Trucks
Food trucks in Nashville aren’t stationary. Street Eats on Thursdays is the most reliable weekly gathering, rotating through different locations. Breweries, the Nashville Farmers Market, and events in East Nashville and The Gulch draw trucks regularly. Roaminghunger.com tracks schedules and locations. Most trucks also post real-time locations on Instagram, which is the most practical tracking method.
Most Nashville food trucks are also available for catering and private events, with pricing typically starting in the range of a few hundred dollars per hour plus food cost depending on the operation.
Sources
- The Grilled Cheeserie, thegrilledcheeserie.com; Nashville Scene Best Food Truck award history
- Yayo’s OMG history via Eat St. Food Network; restaurant social media
- Mas Tacos Por Favor at 732 McFerrin Ave via Nashville Scene
- Smoke Et Al via Nashville food coverage
- Street Eats Nashville schedule via local events listings
- Roaminghunger.com Nashville food truck tracker