The Final Justice League of Street Food Party

 Oh, the fun we've had!

Photo courtesy of The Steamin Demon

So sad to see the Justice League go! They were really the front runner of massive truck gatherings in Denver's food truck revolution! It all began about 4 years ago when a group of food trucks and carts decided to ban together and throw down some of the hottest summer parties we've seen in a while. The combination of happy people, a boomin system bumpin out old school hip-hop and the delightful aromas wafting about from a dozen different food sources was enough to wake up my inner foodie and party gal for sure! 

I remember the first one I went to, Gregg ended up having to work so I wandered in on my own. Walking up to the Taxi building was a feeling I'll never forget...as I made my way across the dirt lot, the sounds of delight that were coming from that field had me all a twitter! And when I turned to the point where the speakers now had my FULL attention, my hair blew back with bumpin beauties like Kool keith, Slick Rick and The Ghetto Boys bringing me back to a time I often reminisce about, when parties made you wanna DANCE!!

Anyway, that wasn't all, the people, the kids, the dogs, the food, the energy! Everybody was gettin down! And the lines for the food trucks were crazy! I felt a sense of pride come over me due to the fact that many of my friends who operate these trucks had finally done it in my eyes... success! While many of them had been successful for a good while now, this to me (the consumer, food lover and food truck scene follower) was different! This was it! Acceptance by all, in one glorious unified front! The masses have embraced you and come out in droves to support your movement! Ah....the love!

So I grabbed myself a sangria and headed out to congratulate my fellow foodies and live it up. While it's not always fun to go out and party by yourself, I was fine...had a blast!

So you can imagine my despair when I heard that the JLSF was goin outta bidness, for lack of a better term. They feel that it's time to go out on a high note rather just fade away into insignificance. I do have to admit that the last JLSF party I went to prior to this one was a bit lackluster. It was held in a blazing hot old parking lot off of West Colfax with no shade, or charm, in site. The vibe was definitely off, and felt more like a flea market than a Crooklyn summer jam. So, I suppose I agree with their decision...it's time to get out n leave em smilin'! And they most certainly did!

The final party was held on August 3, 2013 in the fabulous Taxi spot, which I think is the best location for a party of it's kind. It was off the hook! Especially for the weather, it was pretty cloudy and as we rolled up, the dark clouds did too! But no matter, the people were in it to win it. There was no stopping the momentum of this event. Everyone knew it was their last chance to soak up a food truck gathering of this kind for a while and they weren't gonna let some ominous lookin clouds bring em down. The old school jams were back and the place was hoppin, kids dancing everywhere, a volleyball court and an upper deck where you could get up close to the DJ action. Which was nice because some of them have been so loud that it's hard to concentrate on the party, if that makes any sense at all. But this one turned out perfectly, as long as the weather held out...which it did just long enough to get our bellies and hearts full.

It was nice to see my good friends Sean and Denon Moore of The Denver Cupcake Truck out in full effect. They've added a 4th truck to their entourage and had all 3 sides of their mobile biz on the scene...cupcakes, pies and their sparkly new pastry truck. These guys are my favorite, such amazing, happy people and I give them credit for getting me all submersed in awesome food truck culture. Their home base is Cake Crumbs Bakery in Park Hill and they made the cakes for our wedding. Almost every single person we run into who was there talks about those cakes, they were soooo good! I've NEVER had a cake so moist and fresh!! Ever!

And just look at what a gorgeous job they did with my cake table!! People were totally blown away...mission accomplished!

Aaanyway, I love them! We've become very good friends and you should definitely support their growing family business! They know what's up!

But my absolute favorite find of the day would have to be Babette's Artisan Bread. Oh my effin gee! And gee's for GENIUS!! These guys have a brick pizza oven built right into the space, so whenever the people of the Taxi building put on parties, they can make their amazing brick oven pizzas!

They're so good and they're the coolest people! You have a few varieties to choose from, I had the Margherita and Gregg the Salumi, they toss your dough right there and add your toppings, then off it goes, right into the oven!

Within about 3 minutes, you have a sizzling hot personal pizza with billowy doughy crust and a slight char around the edge...I'm in love! With them AND their concept! They were so smiley and happy to be there and modest about doing something that's obviously so frickin cool!

They plan to open their bakery in the highly anticipated "The Source" set to open any day now in the old Bud's Warehouse space on Brighton Blvd. Should be pretty awesome, Crooked Stave is set to have a nice new tasting room (LOVE them!) as well as many other exciting vendors. Americanum Provisions, being one of them, which looks to be VERY promising! A unique approach to the fresh market concept with vintage kitchen finds and fresh produce from their 10 mile food shed. Neat!

Unfortunately, the weather didn't hold up much longer and we made a hasty retreat but I heard there were many who toughed it out and soaked it up! 

As I am quite saddened by the ending of an era, I'm still hopeful, because it only means that newer and bigger better events are on the horizon.

And I have a sneaking suspicion....we haven't seen the end of the Justice League of Street Food, or movements of it's kind.

Ciao!

More pictures of the last hoorah can be seen here!

Follow @turnipthbeet