Charleston’s food truck revolution continues to burn rubber. Two new roving food outlets have taken to the streets. Jeff Johnson’s Zahh truck is a mobile wood-fired pizza oven that he says is Charleston’s hottest food truck — literally. The oven gets up to 1,200 degrees and can cook a pie in two minutes flat.
He has a creative collection of pies and says his bestseller is the Thai Chicken with chicken satay, peanut sauce, cilantro, and lime juice ($9). He also has a portabella mushroom with caramelized onion and mushroom puree ($9); a Lowcountry shrimp and pesto ($9); and a classic pep and cheese ($6), among others.
He’s been working on his plan to bring Charleston a pizza truck for about three years. Through much trial and error, he perfected his dough recipe, or he thought he had. It wasn’t until he started cooking in the wood-fired oven that he realized his recipe wouldn’t work. The speed and heat with which the oven cooks requires a wetter dough. Johnson says he’s figured it out, though, and is very happy with his crust and his creations. “People are telling me it’s the best pizza they’ve ever had.”
He’s been rolling up to Westbrook Brewery, Awendaw Green, the soccer fields, and the House of Brews in Mt. Pleasant, and you can follow him on Facebook to find out where he’ll be next.
Another new mobile eatery, The Magic Cheese Truck, is a gourmet grilled cheese operation with sandwiches like homemade pimento cheese on sourdough ($6.50) or turkey artichoke parmesan ($7).
Martha Walters, who co-owns the truck with Devon Stence, says the ham and swiss ($7) is one of her favorites. “We took the old Southern cocktail sandwich and turned it into a grilled cheese,” she says. They grow all of their own herbs and buy the bread from local bakers at Normandy Farms.
With Stence’s culinary expertise and Walters’ love for Southern comfort food (not to mention her stint as a Deadhead), The Magic Cheese Truck has the art of cheese-grilling down to a science. The pair has been roaming from the Lowountry Scooter Shop in West Ashley to the old Miss Caper’s lot on Coleman Blvd. in Mt. Pleasant. On Thursdays, you can find them from 11a.m.-2p.m. at the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul downtown on Coming Street.
Both trucks post their locations to Facebook. Follow along to see where to intercept them next.
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