will WE play in Peoria?

We’ve decided we need to become regular customers at a French business. The business we’ve chosen is our local pizza truck. Every Sunday night, we debate who will have to call and place the order over the phone in French, then we drive down and debate who will actually walk up to the truck and try to explain that we want our pizza.

    Now, just what is a pizza truck? When we were here house hunting and people told us about them, I just could not imagine eating from one.

    In the United States, there are kitchens on wheels that usually drive from construction site to construction site, dishing out whatever can be cooked in the back of a truck. Many affectionately call these establishments “roach coaches.” Who knows why. Anyway, a pizza truck is something like that only instead of driving to its customers, its customers drive to it. Yea, like a restaurant, you think. Only it could move. Ours moves every night after he’s done for the evening. Some show up at local markets for the lunch crowd.

    Ok, so think of it not as a “roach coach” but as a mobile restaurant that sets up in the same place every night and only does a take-out business. You call, you order, you pick it up. There are usually some men standing around waiting for their pizzas, talking and drinking beer purchased at the truck. The first time we ordered, we ordered in person. Then, I got brave and decided to call.

    The call generally follows the same script, which makes it a little easier. You say hello, you want to order x number of pizzas. You say what kind. You say what size. He asks your name. You give it and try to spell it with the French alphabet. (we seem to always get Bill wrong and spell it Bell) They say when do you want it? You say 15 minutes. You say ok. You’re done. Get in the car and go, because it’s about 14 minutes away.

    Now, you are not going to get a pepperoni pizza at one of these trucks (or pretty much anywhere around here). The menu is on a board in front of the truck. Or you can take home a little one which doubles as a “frequent buyer” card… you get a stamp for every pizza you buy. Tonight we got our first free pizza.

Here are just a few of the pizza choices:

marguerita: tomato sauce and emmental cheese (one of our usuals)

paysanne: tomato sauce, bacon, emmental cheese, onions, crème fraiche, egg

forestiere: tomato sauce, bacon, mushrooms, potatoes, emmental cheese, crème fraiche (my favorite)

pecheur: tomato sauce, mushrooms, emmental cheese, crème fraiche, tuna

4 cheese: goat cheese, roquefort, mozzarella, emmental, tomato sauce

pizza chocolat: chocolat, banana, mascarpone, pieces of chocolate and oranges

    Hungry yet? Come on a Sunday, we’ll go pick up a pizza or two.