We once saw an episode of 30 Rock in which Tina Fey’s character, Liz Lemon, proclaims that she is moving to Cleveland. Jack (Alec Baldwin) replies, “We’d all like to flee to the Cleve.” Sadly, other thoughts of the city were not as, uh, endearing. But this town surprised us more than the rest. Sure, the weather was below freezing, but the people we met and the food we ate made us happy we’d made our way there. Maybe it was because their food was filled with pride and love for their city. Liz Lemon may have been on the right track after all.

Dim and Den Sum

dimanddensum.com

Comfort food with an Asian twist. Debuting in April.

At 25 years old, Chris Hodgson has already worked for major restaurants in Arizona and New York, but when he thought of where he would begin a business, he immediately brought it back to Cleveland. He wanted to give back to his community. He walked us into a huge Goodwill warehouse, where Dim and Den Sum share the kitchen, and talked us through his passion for people. Hodgson is not just serving awesome food to his community, but he’s aiding ex-convicts with culinary training and counseling, to place them into jobs once they complete the program.

Umami Moto

facebook.com/umamimoto

Asian Fusion

We rolled into a bank parking lot to find a large green Umami Moto icicle-laced truck. It was our first stop in Cleveland. Although the weather was frigid, we were warmly received by Sandy Madachik and Jaw Stulock. We learned that as popular as food trucks were, food trucks run by couples were also trending. The pair started their truck after meeting, had a career change, then started Umami together a bit later. While a lot of Cleveland trucks shut down during winter, these two braved the weather with their hot Thai, Vietnamese, Korean and all-around Asian dishes.

jibaro

eatwonky.com

Caribbean

We’d never been to Cleveland, so we started our search where any good search begins: Google. Jibaro didn’t have its site up yet and no Twitter account, so we were left to depend on the ever-trusty Facebook. We wrote a message, pushed send and crossed our fingers. Upon accepting our friendship request, Elvis and his wife (yes, another couple) gave us a call. We met up with them in their brand-new truck with the kitchen fully loaded. Fully aware of what we put in our bodies, they use only the leanest meats and whole grains, combining ingredients like seaweed and bison burgers that are shockingly delicious.

Seti’s Polish Boys

setispolishboys.com

Deep-fried-sausage sandwiches topped with homemade slaw, hand-cut French fries and BBQ sauce

Food truck trend? What trend? Seti’s been serving his Polish Boys since 2001. You could say that Seti’s Polish Boys is kind of the original gangsta of food trucks. He’s had the newbie’s in the business come to him to ask for help, and families come visit from all over America just to get a taste of his famous Polish Boy, which is smothered in French fries, cheese, slaw and BBQ sauce. One bite and dribble down our sleeves, and we knew exactly why Seti is the Cleveland legend he is.

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