Louisville Street Eats: Grind
Sometimes the best food is not found in a restaurant or café but just outside — on the sidewalk, to be exact. The Daily Meal walks the streets to find the best street eats from food trucks, curbside stands, food markets, and, in this case, the Grind gourmet burger truck so you can have a carefully curated culinary experience.
What's on the menu: Fresh, local, grass-fed, just-ground, hand-pattied, and cooked to order beef on a locally made brioche bun is the star of the show at this fresh, white food truck. Ever had freshly ground beef? It's a revelation, truly. Hands down, the hot-off-the-griddle quarter-pound-plus burger was the best hamburger this author has ever had.
You may well find yourself abandoning all pretense of manners (come on, you're eating outside on the street, who needs manners anyway?) and just throwing down with this burger, juice dribbling down your chin, not pausing to mop it up because you just can't stop eating. A slightly crisp, nearly caramelized outside of the patty gives way to tender, perfectly pink, spectacularly flavorful ground beef on the inside.
The toppings are almost beside the point, but not when you're talking about Grind's toppings. Think crisp green lettuce, fresh tomatoes, foie gras, or their number-one seller and the first to sell out, bacon and brie with apricot jam or red pepper jelly. Add a side of duck-fat fries and you're standing in heaven, right there on the sidewalk, all for $8 to $10 for a burger and $4 for the fries.
Who makes it: A young married couple, food bloggers Liz Huot (a former vegetarian) and Jesse Huot (a culinary student) launched the truck this spring. They're urban farmers, complete with their own chicken coop and basement herb garden where they grow ingredients for the basil pesto that sometimes makes its way onto Grind's burgers. The folks behind Grind don't mind admitting to being food snobs.
Where you can get it: Grind can often be found at Douglass Loop Farmers Market on Saturdays, and they're parked at many local events, fairs, and festivals. Follow them on Twitter, @LouisvilleGrind.