Street Eats

Seattle Southside Food Truck Scene

Food trucks, once a niche market, have become a part of the mainstream culinary landscape in recent years, and Seattle Southside's vibrant food scene is no stranger to these mobile marvels.

Once maligned as purveyers of cheap fare, the modern food truck is a bastion of culinary creativity, with global cuisine and imaginative fusion concepts taking center stage. With lower overhead costs than opening a traditional restaurant, opening a food truck allows for experimentation and innovation without the risky investment of a traditional brick and mortar restaurant. Some successful food trucks have since gone on to establish more permanent locations! But where can you find the best food trucks around Seattle Southside? We'll help you go on a food truck safari, finding delicious tastes out in the wild.

Regular Food Truck Events
Making the Move from Mobile

Regular Food Truck Events

There are a few times and places where you can expect to see food trucks on a schedule. On Wednesdays at lunch time, the SeaTac Office Center has a rotating schedule of food trucks. One of the benefits of this spot? It's within easy walking distance of the airport, so if you're at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on a long layover during this time frame, you can get some delicious eats easily! The Des Moines Farmers' Market, which takes place on Saturdays over the summer months, always has a few food trucks on hand. The Des Moines Food Truck Pod also visits the Des Moines Marina for their Tasty Tuesdays, a lunch event taking place on Tuesdays (naturally), and their Tastes & Tunes evening events, which take place in the evenings and offer music with your meal! The Tastes & Tunes events usually take place on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays, but the schedule can vary.

Another food truck hotspot is the Alaska Airlines office complex, located just down the street from the airport. There you can find food trucks at lunchtime every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Highline College in Des Moines is also a happening place at lunchtime, with food trucks making appearances Monday thrugh Thursday while school is in session.

Outside of regular events, you can often find food trucks at larger special events. Check out our events calendar and you may see an upcoming event that has food trucks available. If we know they'll be there, we'll be sure to mention it in the listing. You should also check out StreetFoodFinder.com as a resource for tracking down food trucks near you - you can not only search by location, but if you have a new favorite food truck, you can see all the places they're scheduled to be.

Food Trucks Near Me

A screenshot of StreetFoodFinder.com centered on SeaTac, WA
StreetFoodFinder.com is a great resource for finding food trucks near you!

Making the Move from Mobile

Some food trucks have had consistent enough business that they've started putting down roots - some as stationary food trucks and others as a brick-and mortar extension of their food truck business. This makes finding these trucks much easier to find!

Dat Creole Soul

Dat Creole Soul is one example of a food truck that's successfully made the move to brick and mortar. Serving up authentic Creole cooking, this taste of the South proved so popular around Seattle Southside that they do a brisk business both at their home base in Des Moines and with their food truck, which you can often see at some of the hotspots listed above. It's the go-to place for classics like shrimp and grits, alligator, or red beans and rice with catfish. They also feature daily specials of Creole tastes you just can't find anywhere else outside of Lousiana itself.

Cubanos on Wheels

Cubanos on Wheels, located right next door to Dat Creole Soul, is another hidden gem. As the name implies, these sandwiches were also once served solely from a food truck. But they're so much more than the traditional sandwich - they also offer loaded yucca fries and loaded plantains, smothered in layers of the protein of your choice, cotija cheese, caramelized onions, slaw, fried garlic and aioli. Whether you catch them on the move or at the cafe, you'll be glad you did.

Birrieria Grumpy's

From local favorite Grumpy's Food Truck comes Birrieria Grumpy's, an establishment that celebrates all things birria. What's birria? It's a slow cooked, braised meat - usually beef, but here you can also pick chicken or soy - that's so tender it's falling apart, richly seasoned and served with the consomme broth it was braised in. Birria is usually served in taco form, where it's the french dip of tacos - you dip your crunchy birria taco into the broth to enhance the flavor. But at Grumpy's, you can get it as a torta, burrito, or even ramen!

Tacos El Patron

Don't let the gas station location fool you, this unassuming looking little taco stand is legit. The tacos at Tacos El Patron are so good that the Seattle Times selected them as one of the 5 best taco deals for Taco Tuesday. This food truck may only stay in one place, but the food will take you on a trip south of the border, with authentic and delicious Mexican cuisine and a carne asada that is out of this world. Try the carne asada fries pictured here - french fries topped with seasoned steak, guacamole, sour cream, cheese, onions, and salsa.

Buddha Bruddah

With a new brick and mortar location in Burien, Buddha Bruddah is a local chain that got its start as a food truck. Serving up Asian mixed plates inspired by the Hawaiian mixed plate tradition, Buddha Bruddah serves up delicious Hawaiian BBQ, Thai food, and more served up with Hawaiian macaroni salad, Asian slaw, rice, and a big heap of aloha spirit. Their short ribs are to die for, and nothing hits the spot like huli huli chicken. The best news? You don't have to choose - you can get them both as a combo plate!

Seattle Area Food Trucks

Christy Maggio

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Christy Maggio

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