Thursday, June 30, 2011

Duos Indy (Food Truck)

Gotta love a slow food truck right?  I think the idea is great, and I love the mobility they have, although for me to eat at Duos, takes a bit of travel, because they are usually found downtown.  I like that they are sourcing most of their stuff locally, and offer vegan and vegetarian options, as I am sure this is an underserved consumer base in Indy. 
On the day I went, they were parked at Alabama and Vermont, which is a fairly easy place to park around—of course I ended up in Mass Ave Toy shop for awhile and spent a fair amount of money, which made for what turned out to be a somewhat expensive lunch—although I really love that store. What great stuff.
So I wanted to try a bit of lots of things, so on this day, I got the asparagus soup, the turkey sandwich (which came with a side salad) and a piece of almond cake. I don’t remember the exact breakdown, but all together, it was $11.50.
So the asparagus soup was vegan I believe, although they did a nice job of thickening it a bit with pureed veggies.  It had a nice consistency and several large asparagus tips in it as well.  The lady who helped me told me they were excited to be using the first local asparagus of the season (so it was a few weeks ago that I ate there).  It was good, but honestly, a drizzle of some crème fraiche or something along those lines would have livened it up for me—it called out for just a bit more richness. I understand making it vegan for those who want that, but having the option to not have it be vegan might be nice too.
The sandwich I had was sliced herbed turkey breast, lettuce, tomatoes, Jarlsberg cheese, avocado, sprouts and lemon caper mayonnaise.  It was served on a large, very hearty wheat roll.  So these are all ingredients I really like—I mean who doesn’t like avocado and cheese and turkey?  Actually, this is exactly the kind of sandwich I make for myself at home--although that lemon caper mayo was nice and zesty and salty and made the sandwich a little more special than it would be if I made it myself. And I liked that there was enough of it you could taste it with each bite.  The only thing I really didn’t like was that the bread, while obviously fresh and good quality, was just too big. I thought eating the whole thing together caused some of the flavor to be lost—so I just took off the bottom half (luckily the yummy mayo was on top) and ate it open faced.  The turkey was tender and the avocado plentiful.  Sprouts aren’t my favorite thing, so I took most of them off.
The side salad was wheatberries, tomatoes, carrots and caramelized onions (there were a couple of choices).  It was a very nutty salad, and I liked the way the tomatoes and onions added both acidity and sweetness.  It had a distinct crunchiness, and tasted very healthy, but in a pretty good way.
I think my favorite thing on this visit was the almond cake.  It was baked in a pie pan, and a pie sized wedge was cut for me.  The cake tasted so much of almond—it totally reminded me of the iced Christmas cookies we make at my house every year.  My mom loves almond extract in the icing, and that is a tradition in our home.  When I was a kid, I could open up the bottle of almond extract (and still can) and it would smell like Christmas to me.  Anyhow, the cake was dense but still nice and moist in the middle with a perfectly crisp edge and dusted with powdered sugar.  It was something that I could see being a little addictive.
I really want to give this truck another go, and try some of the more unique combos I have been seeing on their menus lately. I would love to hear from you if you have tried other things about what you think.
Duos Indy
(various locations around Indy)
317/508-8614
www.duosindy.com (and check them out on facebook for where they will be on a given day)

Duos (Mobile) on Urbanspoon

4 comments:

  1. I have actually tried the Duos truck twice when I was still living downtown and it was easy to get to them. Sadly, I just moved to the South Side :(

    Anyways, what I love about Duos is that their menu is so broad and varying. The first time I went, I enjoyed a Italian sausage on biscuit with a garlic crouton salad. I, too, had slight issue with the bread/biscuit that they used which was too big and crumbly but the flavors were bold and zesty.

    On my second visit, they completely flipped the script and went Asian. I had their Bahn Mi Sandwich and Korean-style soup.

    I certainly think they are a work in progress but I give them lots of credit for their creativity.

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  2. Hey Erin - I just tried this truck for the first time at the brew ha ha and thought it was amazing. I got the BBQ tofu sandwich - tofu grilled with a bbq sauce that was on the tomato-y side rather than a more traditional sauce, and carmelized red onions all on a really fresh, crispy baguette. it was served with a side of lemony potato salad.

    I thought it was delicious and my husband (who claims to hate tofu) even thought it was pretty great.

    My friend goes there all the time for the baked goods. everything she's had has been spectacular. I love that the owner is so excited about what she's serving - we chatted for about 5 minutes. I really hope she does well.

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  3. Yeah, this was the first food truck I ever tried...I think :) It was so good, and I just love how excited the owners are to make and serve their thoughtful treats to all of us curious foodies. They are so cute!

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  4. I met the owners of Duos at a private event when author Michael Pollan was in town. I was super-excited to hear they were opening a food truck focusing on slow food with vegetarian and vegan options. I finally got a chance to try their food about a month ago. I had the slow-cooked chickpeas with spinach and tomato...the dish was very good. I get tired of the only vegetarian options in this town being salad or a veggie burger. This dish was such a simple one...perhaps just as simple as a salad, but it was great to have something different! I also had a delicious brownie with a bit of sea salt on top. I love sweet and salty!

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