Over the past year, I have had the pleasure to become knowledgeable and well-fed due to an amazing trend in cuisine: food trucks. On Friday’s, I will bring you a review on a new truck, from wherever the in the world I am. Prices range from $0-5 ($), $5-10 ($$) and $10-15 ($$$) for a meal. The full list of truck reviews is available here. – Edit: Given the change in locations and food trucks, I’m going to mildly adjust what I include in my reviews.
41st “Friday”: Maximus Minimus
(Seattle, WA, USA)
Website: maximus-minimus.com
Twitter: @SomePigSeattle
Price: $$$
Food Tried: ($10.50 for meal)
- Pulled Pork = Maximus (Hot and Spicy from a mixture of peppers, onions, and fruit juices)
- Slaw = Minimus (Honey mustard, cranberries, sweet onion and mint)
- Drink = Maximus (Ginger Lemonade)
Ah, Seattle. You’re just about as far west as I can go and still be in the ‘Lower 48′. I’ve heard good things about the west coast trucks, and when I took a jaunt to Seattle to visit friends, I also made it a priority to eat from a couple of the food trucks. I picked four, but only made it to two. It only served to strengthen my conviction of Seattle as a really great city.
Maximus Minimus might be the most distinct looking truck in this entire country. It’s like an armored car, shaped like a pig with sunglasses, and dishing out food with great efficiency and pizzazz. Also distinct is the way Maximus Minimus organizes their menu: customers choose courses as either “MAXImus” or “miniMUS”, picking and choosing to create unique combinations. So I went Maximus for my pulled pork, minimus for my slaw, and maximus for my drink. Even I can do the math to see how having just six options means there is quite a unique number of combinations of courses. Very smart, and very fun, especially when you get to choose at whim, as I did… I know that I enjoyed what I had, but I can go back and try completely different things next time I hit the Best Coast, or any combination!
The Maximus Pulled Pork was delectable. Speaking with the wisdom borne of nearly a decade in the Midwest, I may not be an expert, but I’d like to say I know when pulled pork is done right. Not only that, but I’ve had the opportunity to try other trucks doing pulled pork, giving a fair point of comparison (see also: Smoke House, Chuck Wagon Deli, KG Slider Station, all Indianapolis, IN). 
On a firm bun, with tender meat, the Maximus stands out for the consistency of the pulled pork: not too soft, not too hard. I’m sure better reviewers than I know the word for when meat is well-cooked but still has its proper density, but whatever the word, I mean to use it here. I walked quite a ways with my food, and it was still zesty and held up in my hands. The Minimus slaw was a bit spicer than I expected, given that it was on the sweeter half of the menu (Maximus generally tends toward spicy, while Minimus leans toward sweet). I don’t mind spicy food, but I’d be almost apprehensive to go for the Maximus slaw after the kick of the Minimus. Finally, the Maximus drink of Ginger Lemonade was delicious: cool and zippy, great for those beautiful Seattle summer days (especially when you’re walking to the Space Needle).
All around, Maximus Minimus presents a memorable mobile dining experience. Their food is made to order, seasoned and created with unique and mouth-watering ingredients, and the truck turns over an amazing amount of food at a rapid rate. Their price for a meal was a little on the high end for a truck, but I don’t often order a drink, so maybe that is where the extra few dollars came out. I just couldn’t not try the whole menu spread though, so I can’t really hold that against Maximus Minimus. They also do an excellent job of providing covers for all of their open containers, yet offer this as an option to aid with recycling and waste management. They seem to have the whole food truck thing down to a science. A dang tasty science.
