"The Great Food Truck Race" air 6 p.m. Sundays, Food Network; repeats throughout the week
Aloha Plate led the pack of five food trucks from beginning to end during the stop in Rapid City, S.D.
With chef Adam Tabura in command of any challenge — from preparing geoduck to digging for potatoes to butchering a rack of bison — the team has proved to be formidable contenders in the competition. The upside of Rapid City for Aloha Plate was its influx of tourists, which increased the likelihood that Hawaii flavors would appeal to the crowd.
The episode began with host Tyler Florence handing out a paltry $50 to each team for supplies.
His "Speed Bump" challenge had each team’s car being towed, along with a rule that only two team members could ride in the truck at a time. Lanai Tabura overcame the situation by running to Main Street Square to set up shop.
The locale proved to be a bustling area filled with hungry people. Aloha Plate served a lettuce wrap with herbs, veggies and hamburger.
"It’s definitely not like anything in Rapid City," said one happy customer.
At the end of the day, Florence told teams they were to turn in their cash boxes and pick up their cars, which would cost them each $100 to get back from the towing company.
The next day, Aloha Plate knew better than to mess with a good thing and returned to Main Street Square for brisk sales.
Then Florence presented the "Truck Stop" challenge. Every truck would serve buffalo to become a bison truck, the meat of choice for the area. They would start their transformation by heading to a bison supplier, where each team, in order of the previous day’s earnings, would butcher its own rack of bison. Each would need to earn $1,500 by 8:30 p.m., selling plates priced no higher than $10, then go to a site called Skyline Drive to try to claim $750, $500 or $250 bonus tokens.
Aloha Plate, in first place, breezed through the butchering process. "We’re used to doing this — with deer," said Lanai Tabura.
Back at the square, the team sold lettuce wraps filled with bean sprouts, sliced seared bison and chow mein noodles topped with sauce. They made the quickest work of reaching the $1,500 sales mark, then took the $750 token.
On elimination day Aloha Plate reigned supreme with $6,841 in earnings, followed by the Slide Show ($6,199), Tikka Tikka Taco ($5,865) and Philly’s Finest Sambonis ($3,800). Bowled and Beautiful went home, having the lowest earnings ($3,678).
