Taste of Bloomington transforms City Hall lots into culinary melting pot

As sunshine turned into a rainy downpour Saturday afternoon, many Taste of Bloomington festival goers ran to tents and booths, huddling to stay dry.

Ankle-deep flooding was seen at Gate 1, located at the corner of Seventh and Morton streets, where volunteer gate workers confirmed the festival was to continue after the rains subsided.

At 3:30 p.m., Taste of Bloomington gate workers said live music had been postponed until 4 p.m., but the rain steadily continued and the musical acts did not start until about 5 p.m. on the main stage at Eighth and Morton streets.

At about 5:30 p.m., small batches of visitors to the 31st annual Taste of Bloomington began to filter into the Showers Commons at City Hall to sample the flavors of local vendors and restaurants.

The IDS sent two reporters into the Taste of Bloomington to talk with four food vendors, getting their takes on this year’s rain-soaked festival atmosphere.

GYPSY MOON NOSH WAGON
A newcomer to town and the Taste of Bloomington, Gypsy Moon Nosh Wagon was located at the Showers North Lot during the festival.

Gypsy Moon owner Jackie White said the festival was a lot more work than she is normally used to doing out of her food truck.

“I cook in small batches,” she said. “I like doing small orders. And I like to be creative and do funky stuff.”

Her food truck is named Gypsy Moon because of its wandering, creative nature.

“I’ve been painting that moon for years and years,” she said. “And I’ve always thought of myself as a gypsy. And now, the truck moves around like a gypsy, too.”

Gypsy Moon Nosh Wagon is just one of several street food vendors in town. White said she has been in talks with Mother Bear’s Pizza, Uel-Zing coffee and The Big Cheeze to try and form a street food coalition in Bloomington.

“I’d like to start what I like to call a ‘cluster-truck,’” she said.

The menu Saturday featured coconut curry pork tacos — the day’s best seller — alongside red chili chicken tacos and bacon-bleu cheese guacamole.

“It’s hard work, but I love the food and all the restaurants,” White said. “And we’re doing pretty good despite the rain.”

COACHES BAR & GRILL
Coaches Bar & Grill, located at the corner of Sixth and College streets, offered up items from its regular menu in single-serve portions.

On the menu at Coaches’ booth, located in the Showers Commons, were fried mushrooms, cheeseburger sliders and the restaurant’s original “Firecracker Shrimp” with lemon aioli dipping sauce.

Coaches’ Executive Chef Willie Price said the menu this year was different from last year’s menu of chili cheese fries, buffalo wings and the restaurant’s signature Firecracker Shrimp.

“We really try to change up the menu each year,” Price said. “We try to give people a taste of something different each year and steadily improve upon our food.”

Coaches Bar & Grill, partly managed by the Hilton Garden Inn to which the restaurant is attached, was overseen on Saturday by Dale Benson, the hotel’s food and beverage manager.

Benson said Coaches’ and neighboring vendors’ booths were without power a handful of times because of the heavy rains that preceded the festival that afternoon.

Power was quickly restored to the booths in that area within minutes, but the rain did have a different effect on the booth’s performance that day.

“Because of the rain, it seems like no one’s coming in and people are leaving,” Benson said. “It’s always more hectic when it rains.”

Even though the weather had an impact on the booth’s customer flow, chef Price said the day’s best-selling item was the fried mushrooms, second to the Firecracker Shrimp.

DATS ON GRANT
Dats on Grant, a cajun creole café, joined the festivities with its “Real Cajun, Real Fast” attitude as it served up three tasty dishes: chili cheese étouffée with crawfish, caramelized corn with black beans — a vegetarian option — and bourbon chicken.

Ryan Stackhouse, a food and wine lover attending the Taste, recommended the chili cheese étouffée with crawfish.

“It’s spicy and it’s delicious,” he said.

According to Dats’ online menu, étouffée is a French word loosely meaning “to smother with kisses.” For this recommended dish, crawfish is smothered with fresh vegetables in a thick and rich creamy sauce blended with a mixture of Dats’ secret spices, and served over rice with French bread. 

If customers don’t like the sound of the étouffée they can always visit Dats at 211 S. Grant St. to try its sandwiches, stew, Creole, chili and jambalaya. Dats serves dishes such as these that have been loved in the bayou for generations at affordable prices.

Its hours of operation include 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

THE BIG CHEEZE
The Big Cheeze, a local food truck specializing in gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, which debuted itself at the Taste of Bloomington last summer, attended again this year.

The gourmet food truck served its best-selling homemade mac’n’cheese grilled cheese sandwich called the “Mac Daddy Grilled Cheese” and its popular “Momma Smacker” sandwich, as well as a newer sandwich called the “Fajita Grilled Cheese” served with a side of cilantro lime sour cream.

“Last year the Taste was good for us, I mean it’s raining so it obviously slows things down this year,” Joe Morton, Big Cheeze co-owner with Chad Sutor, said. “But we normally try to target students mostly, so this is a good way to get our name out there to the locals during the summer months.”

To try some of the truck’s other signature grilled cheese sandwiches, follow The Big Cheeze’s Twitter account

@BigCheezeIN to find its late-night locations on Kirkwood Avenue or call (812) 322-5234.