If at first you don't succeed try, try again. That idiom rung true for Hurricane Alley Raw Bar & Restaurant owner Kim Kelly, who launched her Chowder Truck-N-Snack Shack on Saturday, September 19.
Several months ago, Kelly petitioned the Boynton Beach City Commission for permission to station her new food truck a few miles north of her long-time restaurant, a city-owned piece of land located at 222 N. Federal Hwy. When the request was denied Kelly instead partnered with Christine Francois, owner of a private lot at 601 S. Federal Hwy., the same permanent space where the truck currently operates several days a week, making a kind of semi-permanent, one food truck park.
Moving forward, Kelly said she hopes to share the space with other food trucks. For now, however, Chowder Truck-N-Snack Shack will be holding down the field, open for business from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday.
The large, grass-covered lawn features several umbrella-shaded picnic tables where patrons can nosh on everything from Chowder Truck-N-Snack Shack's seafood-centric menu focusing on soups and chowders, sandwiches, and appetizer-sized eats. The menu starts with "snacks" — everything from onion rings or lobster macaroni and cheese to fried shrimp served on a stick with a jalapeño cheese dipping sauce.
You can also find her famous garbage fries, waffle fries loaded with cheese, jalapeños, sour cream, guacamole, bacon, tomatoes, and a spicy "boom boom" sauce.
The best seller so far is the chowder and griller combo, a soup and sandwich deal that gets you a small soup and griller for $8, Kelly's signature creation that's bigger than a slider, but smaller than your average sandwich. Grillers come two to an order; choose from a New England-style lobster roll; blackened mahi topped with a spicy slaw; friend chicken tenders slathered in a homemade cheese sauce; or crab cakes (pictured above) served with a spicy bayou sauce.
For an added up-charge you can upgrade your meal and swap out the soups of the day for her homemade lobster bisque, topped with fresh claw meat and rife with large chunks of shredded lobster.
Visit myhurricanealley.com.
Nicole Danna is a food writer covering Broward and Palm Beach counties. To get the latest in food and drink news in South Florida, follow her @SoFloNicole or find her latest food pics on the BPB New Times Food & Drink Instagram.