After leading the pack in earnings the previous week in Oregon, the Aloha Plate food truck and its competitors headed out to Pocatello, Idaho, where all challenges are related to the Idaho potato — or lack thereof.
Teams replenished supplies after receiving $300, then found spots to set up shop. Aloha Plate settled into a bank parking lot, confident about drawing interest from the town where Hawaiian fur traders settled in the 1800s, creating a Polynesian community.
When host Tyler Florence threw in a "Speed Bump" — plates could have no starches of any kind — the Hawaii team barely batted an eyelash and delivered steak lettuce wraps that customers deemed delicious.
| "The Great Food Truck Race" airs 6 p.m. Sundays, Food Network; repeats throughout the week |
Trucks dependent on starches got creative: Philly’s Finest Sambonis,
a cheesesteak sandwich truck, marketed its menu as “BYOB: Bring Your Own Bread.
As the day proceeded, trucks moved locations, and Aloha Plate parked at a warehouse superstore lot. The Frankfoota hot dog truck pulled in a couple of hours later. But the site turned out to be a liability: It was just outside Pocatello city limits, and the trucks were fined $50 for every hour they had spent there. For Aloha Truck, that meant $150. (Frankfoota’s loss was $50.) They returned to the bank.
The next challenge, called a "Truck Stop," required the teams to use potatoes as a primary ingredient in their dishes. Another catch: The potatoes had to be russets, pulled from the ground at a nearby farm.
Florence instructed that, after earning $750, the teams were to close their trucks and head out to the City Creek Trail head, where tokens worth cash prizes of $500, $250 and $50 were available for the taking.
On the way to their site, Philly’s Finest ran into a sign, the repairs for which would cut into the team’s profits.
Aloha Plate returned to the bank lot and served up potato cakes flavored with various herbs, fresh corn and other veggies, and topped with sliced steak. The dish was served with fresh salad.
An especially creative dish came from Tikka Tikka Taco, an Indian food truck hailing from St. Louis. Its team served an Indian Irish Nacho comprising homemade potato chips topped with Indian-flavored Tikka chicken, spinach, feta cheese and cilantro.
Los Angeles’ Bowled and Beautiful made it to the trail first, taking the $500 token. Aloha Plate was literally right behind and nabbed the $250 token. Philly’s Finest took the third token for $50.
The final tally for the trucks’ profits was about $14,000. Aloha Plate, with earnings of $2,744, was bested only by Bowled and Beautiful, which took first place with $3,643.
Tikka Tikka Taco followed ($2,339), then Slide Show ($2,004), followed by Philly’s Finest ($1,912).
The Frankfoota hot dog team from New York City turned in their keys with low earnings of $1,668.
