Pelican Brother's Food Truck: I'm in love with a food truck

Pelican Brothers Food Truck
(Usually parked outside of Common Grounds and open only at night)
Follow them on Facebook for more locations and hours

I've fallen in love with a food truck! Despite the recent national popularity of these mobile culinary emporiums, Gainesville seems to only have one operating at the present moment. Started by the former bass player of Mercury Program and his wife, Pelican Brothers serves up unique dishes perfect for late night snacks.

Nearly every menu item is reasonably priced finger food that will satisfy any alcohol induced craving. You're looking to spend anywhere from 3-7 dollars on anything from Fish Taquitos, empanadas, quesadillas, oyster sliders, or hand cut french fries.

As everything is cooked inside the truck, there aren't many preparation options available besides deep frying. Typically, I steer clear of fried food as it's usually very heavy and laden with oil. Pelican Bros, however, has perfected the art of deep frying and their items always arrive as feather light crispy treats.


My ultimate favorite menu item is the fish taquito. They don't roll up and deep fry the whole thing (like other "taquitos"). Rather, they just serve a golden breaded chunk of delicious fish on a small corn tortilla shell, complete with cabbage and spicy sauce. It's basically a little taco. You can get 2 for $5 or 3 for $7. I absolutely love these things and can't get enough of them.

I've also tried the quesadilla, which is prepared on the griddle and not deep fried. It came with a delicious tomatillo salsa and some sort of creamy avocado dip that had wonderful spices in it (I want to say clove or allspice). Finally, I've eaten the peanut butter and plantain empanada with chipotle sauce drizzled on top. It was quite good.

I'm really impressed with the flavors, preparation styles, and simplicity that comes out of this little truck. It is a much welcomed addition to downtown Gainesville's night food scene. I hope they consider opening for lunch, as downtown really needs some new quality lunch options.

B.F.D. (New breakfast/lunch place in Sun Center)

101 SE 2nd place #114
Inside Sun Center East (where Maude's is)

The owners of Boca Fiesta have decided to take a shot at the Bermuda Triangle of Downtown Gainesville's Restaurant Scene, Sun Center East. In the 2 years I've been working downtown, no less than 4 other restaurants have tried and failed miserably to make ends meet in the scarcely visited and zero incidental foot trafficked location INSIDE the "mall" behind Maudes.

As this blog has repeatedly stated, Boca Fiesta may not be Gainesville's worst restaurant, but if Tim's Thai burns down, they will certainly be leading the race.
As a fierce critic, I couldn't wait to try their new venture, fangs glistening and mouth salivating like a wolf about to demolish its prey (not in a hunger sense, but in a metaphorical sense).

Upon first glance, I was actually impressed with the menu offerings, but held my horses, as it couldn't be that good, right?

Wrong!

It was amazing.

I'm actually flabbergasted and momentarily without words.






To be honest, this is the type restaurant I'd expect from the folks running Boca Fiesta. It's definitely very Gainesville. There are ample meat options, but the veg choices are unique and seemed enticing. I settled on the BBQ Jackfruit sandwich, which is served on a potato bun with a side of cole slaw. While it didn't look like it was going to win any "handsomest sandwich" awards, it was damn good. To be honest, I've never had anything like it. The jackfruit was very satisfyingly sweet and had a mildly chewy texture. It wasn't chewy like gum, but it had something you could sink your teeth into (unlike tofu). The BBQ sauce was delicious and the cole slaw made a great addition to the sandwich. The real kicker was the price: $4.50!!!! What a great sandwich for a great price.

I polished it off with one of their 3 different ginger beers, which at 2.50, was the only slightly high price in my opinion.

My eating companion got a burger, which he said was very good. At $4.50, it was also a great bargain. His cole slaw had a decent sized sharp piece of plastic in it, so that was kind of a downer, but the restaurant gladly comped us a CHERRY PIE MILKSHAKE!! What insane pregnant woman invented this heavenly confection? I swear to god, if it wasn't going to quickly stop my heart from beating, I'd eat one of these every day for breakfast and consider a second for mid afternoon snacking.

Surprises do happen, even in this town, even with previously unpopular restauranteurs. Take it from me, if I liked this place, it's gotta be good. Again, I really feel like this style of food is more natural to the folks who run it, but don't go here expecting anything resembling Boca Fiesta.

I'll gladly go back (and surely report if things change).