Blueberry cheesecake donuts? 3 great finds at Lakeville food truck festival: Brockton Eats

LAKEVILLE — For the afternoon of Saturday, July 12, Lakeville’s Angers Conway Farm transformed into a Mecca for food truck fanatics. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people flocked to the Lakeville Food Truck & Craft Beer Festival.

There were all sorts of different food trucks. Some specialized in egg rolls, others in donuts, some in tacos. There were also alcohol vendors and craft artists and hay rides and plenty else to see and enjoy. However, we were there for the food.

With so much to choose from it was hard to narrow it down, but here are three great finds from the Lakeville Food Truck Festival.

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3. Blueberry Cheesecake Donuts from Mini Donut Bites

I think this was always going to work: a combination of fried dough, cream cheese and blueberry donut filling, that is. Mini Donut Bites — a Dartmouth-based food truck — offers homemade donuts topped with an array of potential sauces and donut fillings.

I opted for their special — blueberry cheesecake — because why not? But in the end, the donut, rather than what topped it, is what stole the show. I’ve only had donut bites (Munchkins) from Dunkin’ before, so to taste a homemade version of that was quite wonderful.

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2. California Hot Dog from Trolley Dogs

I’m not exactly sure what’s so Californian about a hot dog slopped with homemade chili and topped with an unidentifiable cheese spread — if anything, it feels Texan — but, it was absolutely delightful.

The folks at Trolley Dogs don’t skimp on any ingredients. The hot dog itself is as big as you’ll find one. It’s heaped with what feels like a bowl of chili and adorned with a cheese pour(?) that was anything but subtle. I also added mustard, for the record. With all that, the only appropriate way to serve such a behemoth is to wrap it in aluminum foil and hope the structure holds. Which, it kind of does. But, if you order an enormous chili-cheese dog that’s wrapped in foil, you’re probably not the type of person that worries too much about if its going to fall apart.

The chili dog is one of my favorite foods on earth. It’s a wonderful reminder of our agency as human beings. “If we put chili on a hot dog,” I think while taking a bite, “then we can do anything.” The chili dog at Trolley Dogs is as good as they get.

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It’s easy to dismiss street food or food truck food as easy and simple, limited to only dishes that can be thrown together en masse in under a minute. But at Adobo Republic, there’s a clear craft that goes into the food this Filipino food truck serves. Adobo Republic was founded in 2022, and you can usually find them down in Wareham.

The chicken empanada is a wonderful manifestation of this. It’s pastry exterior almost resembles the intricate designs of ornate crown molding. It is flakey yet structured, just sweet enough yet also wonderfully savory. Inside lies the chicken. Tucked in there and gushing for flavor, just waiting to be released upon first bite.

The dish is served with a side of spicey aioli. It complimented the empanada well, but, it was ultimately unnecessary given the delight of the empanada on its own. I cannot recommend this enough.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: California chili dogs? Lakeville food truck festival — 3 must-try items