Ethyl’s Truckin’ Thursdays | Photo gallery

That a restaurant parking lot is hosting a weekly gathering of food trucks might seem to go against the crude business logic that usually goes with the restaurant biz, but Ethyl's Truckin' Thursdays seemed to bring in just as many customers for its outdoor patio as food truck enthusiasts. And we know beers are were the profits are at. So there, synergy. Last night, the food truck gathering also brought a reality show crew (following Mike Starr of GoodFellas) and a lot of local press, which was invited out to sample Ethyl's cooking and the truck fare. I slipped through the crowd to grab a can of Daisy Cutter at the bar, then to the trucks (Meatyballs Mobile, Sweet Ride, 5411 Empanadas, gaztro-wagon, Bergsteins Deli Truck, More Cupcakes and Fido to Go were all up and operational) for a tamale from the Tamale Spaceship (great and worth the money), a few empanadas (killer), a red velvet whoopie pie (kind of small for $3, but great) and went home happy. 

Ethyl’s Truckin’ Thursdays runs Thursdays, 6–9pm at Ethyl's Beer & Wine Dive (324 S Racine).