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Have I recently mentioned that my wife’s work is awesome? Yes, well, it is even more so, now that a second weekly food truck visitor has been established: the StrEAT Mobile Bistro.

There are actually two food trucks run by a team (Manager Izzy Schachner, Chef Kelly McGlathery and Daniel Talty) that came together to launch this enterprise in early Spring 2011 and have been serving ravenous (Greater) Clevelanders faithfully come rain come shine. They offer a variety of dishes inspired by locally produced ingredients, which is always a plus!
So today I braved the rain as well and made the trek to meet for lunch.

We were welcomed by Dan and a most promising menu, which had been made available online one day in advance on Facebook and Twitter.

My wife zeroed in on the four cheese Mac-n-Cheese, a pretty tasty dish topped with breadcrumbs. Maybe our expectations were too high – it was a very solid, creamy Mac-n-Cheese dish, but not necessarily a revelation as to what all other Mac-n-Cheese should aspire to be.

I could not make up my mind between the two soups offered, and Dan immediately accommodated me and offered me a sample menu of both. And am I glad he did – because both dishes were absolutely delicious.
I started off with the harvest stew (winter squash, white beans, sweet potatoes, chickpeas, & Moroccan spices), a slightly sweet, hearty stew topped with golden couscous. It was wonderful! With the couscous stirred in, it had just the right amount of bite.

But I think my favorite dish of the day was the spicy, creamy, perfectly balanced tomato lentil soup. I could have consumed buckets and buckets! The only way to improve upon this dish would have been warm flat bread to dip into it. Oh wait! That was supplied as well. Literally one of the best things I’ve eaten since our China trip in May.

The dishes left me very sated and kept me warm and cozy all the way back to work through the rain. Perfect rainy Cleveland Fall weather food! And very portable as a “to go” meal.

Bottom line? Find them so they can feed you! Good to amazing food, fair prices, beautiful use of produce and an incredibly friendly and gracious crew. 4.5/5 from me.

Thank you so much again to Dan and Kelly for the treat and the eye-opening lentil soup! Man, I wish I even knew where to start on trying to make it myself…