{"id":1300,"date":"2012-11-09T19:08:06","date_gmt":"2012-11-09T23:08:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/~travelwriting\/?page_id=1300"},"modified":"2012-11-09T20:45:48","modified_gmt":"2012-11-10T00:45:48","slug":"hollywoods-seminole-hard-rock-hosts-culinary-heaven-in-form-of-food-trucks","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/?page_id=1300","title":{"rendered":"Award-winning food trucks draw crowds at Hollywood’s Seminole Hard Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Posted November 9, 2012<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By DANIELA RODRIGUEZ<\/p>\n

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — The smell of grilled cheese, Argentinean meats grilled to juicy perfection, and handcrafted gelato popsicles all in one place for happy hour might seem like food heaven to some.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The Foreign Car Show had a large gathering by groups of men that were interested in them at the Hollywood Seminole Hard Rock and Casino (Photo by Daniela Rodriguez).<\/p><\/div>\n

As Michelle Mezine waited in line to order a choripan, an Argentinean sandwich made with grilled Argentinean pork and beef sausage and fresh baked bread from Che Grill, she couldn\u2019t stop smiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe amazing smells coming from all these food trucks makes me hungry for more,\u201d said Mezine.<\/p>\n

The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino here host\u2019s Food Truck Rally every third Thursday of every month. With more than 15 food trucks to choose from, there is always an edible delight to savor on.<\/p>\n

From 5:30-10 p.m., people can come from work or have a family outing and walk around the parking lot in front of the Seminole Paradise. They can grab a bite to eat and enjoy the live music that plays a variety of music from Nancy Sinatra\u2019s \u201cThese Boots are made for Walking\u201d to tropical salsa music.<\/p>\n

As I was driving to make a right on State Road 7 and Stirling Road, an immense guitar decorated with bright neon lights with the words Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino immediately attracted my eyes.<\/p>\n

My younger sister, Vicky, was as excited as I was to experience the South Florida \u201cfood truck scene\u201d that has become very popular in the last year.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The author’s sister Vicky takes her order of a plain grilled cheese sandwich from Ms. Cheezious food truck at the Seminole Hard Rock and Casino (Photo by Daniela Rodriguez).<\/p><\/div>\n

I drove my way into the parking garage, which is free of charge and has nine floors.\u00a0 Since it was a weekday, there were plenty of open parking spaces. I chose to park in the sixth floor, since I knew there would be parking available just a few feet away from the elevators that went directly to the Seminole Paradise area.<\/p>\n

As soon as my sister and I got to the second floor and walked to the escalators, we were in a trance as we walked past by the bright-lit Hard Rock ads on huge screens.<\/p>\n

As we looked up at the white dome that served as the roof at the top of the escalators, there was a quote by Phil Collins, which read, \u201cBecause it\u2019s another day in Paradise.\u201d\u00a0 From there, I knew it was foreshadowing our night.<\/p>\n

We were surprised to find out there was also a car show going on. The Festival Classic and Foreign Car Show put vintage cars on display, which ranged from Camaros, Mercedes Benz, and even official pace cars that were used in the annual Indianapolis 500 mile races in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

The sight of groups of older men gathering around the cars and discussing which car would win in a race was as amusing as my sister and I trying to figure out which make and model some of the cars were.\u00a0 We did that for two or three more minutes and finally got tired of looking at every inch of the cars trying to look for a name.<\/p>\n

We walked to our main event of the night: the food trucks. The colorful trucks were all lined up and crowds of people gathered around the small tables that were provided by the trucks. These small tables served as a pit stop for people to eat their meals before going on the hunt for the next food truck from which to order.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The line to get to a grilled cheese sandwich from Ms. Cheezious was always long compared to the other food trucks (Photo by Daniela Rodriguez).<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThis is my first time here and so far, it is really good,\u201d said Mezine while waiting in line at Che Grill. \u201cI have had french fries and grilled cheese so far and it was so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once my sister heard the word grilled cheese, her eyes opened up and the smile of a toddler appeared on her face. She made me make a beeline towards Ms. Cheezious, the food truck that made the classic grilled cheese, but with a twist. The line was the longest out of all the food trucks.<\/p>\n

With a menu that included grilled cheese sandwiches with ingredients like crab salad, prosciutto, goat cheese and crispy bacon, there was a sandwich for every taste bud.<\/p>\n

Adam Mayer, a server at Ms. Cheezious, took our order of a crabby cheese melt and my sister, being the plain Jane that she was, ordered a grilled cheese with just cheddar cheese.<\/p>\n

I asked Mayer what made Ms. Cheezious attract so many people. I failed to realize that I would have known the answer to this question if I had taken a bite out of my crabby cheese melt first before asking.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople love our sandwiches and that is the reason why we have been voted two years in a row as Best Food Truck by The Miami New Times<\/em>,\u201d said Mayer.<\/p>\n

The slight crispiness of the sourdough bread mixed with crabmeat and the sharp cheddar cheese melted to perfection was just what my taste buds were missing out on.<\/p>\n

I decided to walk over to where the live band was playing some salsa and watched couples dancing while I enjoyed my sandwich. My sister and I decided to forgo dessert since it had just rained earlier and it was very humid.<\/p>\n

Time went by quickly and before we knew it, it was already 9 p.m. At that point, we called it a night and walked back to the car.<\/p>\n

We were quiet going back up the elevators while we looked over the panoramic view of the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. The casino and hotel was on our right, where we saw people getting prepared to enjoy their night at the slot machines.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan we come back again?\u201d said Vicky. \u201cBut this time, let\u2019s bring some more money so we could eat till we can\u2019t anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

IF YOU GO<\/strong><\/p>\n

Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
\n1 Seminole Way<\/a>, Hollywood, Fla. 33314
\n954-327-7501
\nhttp:\/\/www.seminolehardrockhollywood.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Directions<\/span><\/p>\n

From I-95: Get off at the Stirling Road exit and make a left if coming from I-95 North or make a right if coming from I-95 South. Go straight until State Road 7 and make a right.<\/p>\n

Food Trucks<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of the food trucks that regularly participate:<\/p>\n

Che Grill<\/a>
\nMs. Cheezious<\/a>
\nHipPOPs Handcrafted Gelato Bars<\/a>
\nLa Nostra Pizza<\/a>
\nChurro Mania<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted November 9, 2012 By DANIELA RODRIGUEZ HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — The smell of grilled cheese, Argentinean meats grilled to juicy perfection, and handcrafted gelato popsicles all in one place for happy hour might seem like food heaven to some. As … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":65,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"sidebar-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1300","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1300"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1307,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1300\/revisions\/1307"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/65"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.com.miami.edu\/travelwriting\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}