Sidewalk Sweetsations

Just picked up a sweet potato «cup pie» from the truck by Metro Center. Dear Jebus, this is the BEST sweet potato pie I’ve EVER tasted. This is the reason you should go to this truck.

I decided to check this truck out at the Cherry Blossom festival last weekend, and I was not impressed. They had a really extensive menu, but unfortunately, they were out of the first two items I tried to order.
Attempt number 3 was for cheesecake, and I was told they only had sweet potato cheesecake. I decided to go with that, since I love sweet potato pie, and I love cheesecake, so figured it had to be good.
Well, I was wrong. The mini pie was bland, and didn’t really taste like either sweet potato pie or cheesecake; I’m actually sort of impressed that they managed to take two of my favorite desserts and make them not taste like anything. Also, the crust was extremely soggy, and had no crunch to it whatsoever.
I feel bad giving one star without trying the cupcakes, which they seem to be known for, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. So in summary, my experience was tried to order two different cupcakes, out of both. Ordered cheesecake, got something similar-​ish, and it was terrible. Don’t think I’ll be back.

Sidewalk Sweetsations is one of the vendors at Airport Square Farmer’s Market in Linthicum, MD (near BWI Airport)
I had the Strawberry Letter S (yellow cake with strawberries, buttercream frosting, topped with a fresh strawberry slice), which was good. The strawberries IN the batter were a nice touch.
Would go back, for sure to try some Cuptini («spirit-​filled» cupcake) and maybe a few Cup-​Pies (cupcake sized pies).

Tiny pies are where it’s at.
Had the lemon cupcake, which I felt was on par with all the other cupcakes in this city, but the sweet potato mini pie was friggin’ heavenly. I’ll definitely hit this truck up again whenever I see it.

Forget the cupcakes. Go for the sweet potato pie instead. Why risk a dried cup of baked flour when you can opt for a moist slice of deliciousness. They’re individual servings of joy. [Original Visit: November 22, 2010]

There were THREE… count them… THREE cupcake trucks outside of my building today! What does that say about Capital Gallery that we are able to simultaneously support three cupcake trucks? I hadn’t had a Sidewalk Sweetsations cupcake yet, so I figured I would give them a whirl.
I tried the Choc Choc Rocks and got a Luscious Lemon Squeeze to take home to the boyfriend. I didn’t think my cupcake was half bad, but as I was eating it, I couldn’t help thinking «this cupcake tastes like it was make by a guy». They were better than grocery story cupcakes, but definitely not in the same league as most of the other cupcakes out there (although I still like them better than Curbside Cupcakes).
They get points for presentation, size and price. They’re just slightly bigger than most other cupcakes, they’re $ 2.50 each instead of the standard $ 3.00, they’re in a gold foil «cup» and the two-​pack comes in a plastic container instead of a paper bag so they don’t get completely smushed if you want to take one home for your honey.

I should have known when I walked up to this truck it would be a tragic waste of money, but my determination to partake from as many of these types of businesses as possible overpowered my conscience and convinced me to spend money with these guys. Yes, guys. It’s two old guys driving this truck (
) around, certainly not what I expected given the source material. I had a feeling it was only a matter of time before someone started just driving around selling over priced crap and cashing in on the fad (both cupcakes and food trucks), and it manifest itself this week with some of the most boring treats I’ve ever had the displeasure of eating.
The ONLY reason this isn’t a one star review is because the sweet potato and pecan «cup-​pie» (like a cupcake, except for pies) was pretty decent (
), but I wouldn’t be surprised if they bought it off some poor vendor and marked it up (to $ 3). The cupcakes aren’t all that expensive, just $ 2.50 a piece, but the quality is pathetic. I’m not sure if he was sold out of almost everything (my location was his third stop of the day) or if they’re all made this way, but the Strawberry (
), Chocolate (
), and Lemon (
) flavors I picked out all had the exact same cake batter, with just a bit of frosting swirled across the top. The batter tastes exactly like cheap box batter, and the frostings were boring at best. There is seriously no effort whatsoever put into these, even the size is much smaller compared to other trucks and stores in the area.
These guys do the majority of their business (it seems like from Twitter) from areas that don’t typically get visited by the other cupcake trucks, like Navy Yard, L’enfant, and Shaw, so perhaps the people supporting them thus far just don’t realize what else is out there. It’s not a knock on the customers, but to me these guys are really ripping people off. You know what, screw your extra star, you don’t deserve it. If you can actually offer me something better than what I can get from the Safeway variety pack (I’m assuming one of these exists) then maybe I wouldn’t feel so cheated. What really pisses me off is that I worked out an extra 10 minutes yesterday on top of my normal routine just so I wouldn’t feel bad about eating these. Worst use of calories this year.