Make no mistake, I don’t envy people who work in food trucks. The inside of those trucks are cramped, hot and probably messy.

As I looked at my sunburned head in the mirror, though, I envied those food truckers in their covered workspace. If only for a moment.

Me, my bald head and a few friends waited outside CheddaTruck last week. It was, as you probably guessed, a sunny day. It seems like the burger truck has been everywhere in Utah Valley lately. And I hadn’t eaten a burger in about two days. I was due.

CheddaTruck had parked outside the Vivint offices in north Provo that day. One of my friends, a Vivint employee, joined us. She played a crucial part in our lunch, letting us dine in Vivint’s cushy cafeteria. This was crucial because, well, it was a really long wait for our food. By the time we got our burgers we were ready to escape the hot sun.

In my experience, most food trucks have pretty simple menus. I was surprised at the variety of options CheddaTruck boasted: 10 different burgers and five kinds of sides. The burger toppings were enticing. Stuff like brie cheese, Russian Tarragon dressing and corn pudding. These folks were ambitious.

With the five of us in our group, we are able to tackle half of the burger menu. I opted for the Ole’ Faithful. The burger has oven-roasted tomatoes, braised onions, cheddar, lettuce and Russian Tarragon dressing. Was it tasty? Well, yeah, it’s a burger. CheddaTruck has great buns. Fresh, fluffy ones. The roasted tomatoes were an interesting touch — I’d only ever had uncooked tomatoes on hamburgers.

We also got the Schwinn (roasted tomatoes and mushrooms, brie, arugula and pesto), the Turnpike Love (braised onions, roasted mushrooms, chedda wiz, green leaf lettuce and aioli), the Nasty (braised onions, pepperjack cheese, Russian Tarragon dressing and sriracha buffalo sauce), and the Dirtbag (just cheese). And, not to leave the side dishes out of the equation, we also got the Chedda Tots and the Bad Cooper cheese fries.

The Chedda Tots were handmade and did not disappoint. They were, as the name suggests, cheesy, with a chipotle cheese dipping sauce. It might be the first time I’ve had tots that weren’t pre-packaged. Thusly, they were breaded a bit differently, kind of like a fish stick. One order of these wasn’t enough.

The Bad Cooper cheese fries came with bacon and braised onions. These are an untidy affair. With one messy hand trying to keep my burger together, I dove into the fries with a fork. This worked out well. Our batch of fries was a bit on the salty side, though.

We compared our notes — just mental notes; I’m not that serious of a food critic — and noticed some interesting things. Across the board, we liked the bread and the amount the burgers were cooked. Too often, burgers get overcooked and become little burger briquettes. Not the case here. However, we agreed the burgers could have been seasoned more. To our taste, the patties weren’t seasoned at all. Maybe with all the diverse condiments, the owners thought it unnecessary. Or maybe we just didn’t taste it.

Despite the interesting cheeses and sauces, the flavors often blended together to the point that they weren’t distinguishable. “It’s like a food fight in my mouth,” one friend said. If I have brie on my burger, I want to really taste it. My suggestion? For one, toast the buns. This will keep those fluffy buns from getting so soggy, and perhaps contain the flavors a bit more.

I think some of these adventurous ingredients work great on gourmet burgers, when there’s more time to really craft it. Food trucks are a different beast, though. The ingredients made it seem like a gourmet burger, but some of the preparation and presentation were more akin to fast food. Along with toasted buns, bigger condiment portions — slices of cheese and so forth — would also help. The owner told me CheddaTruck will soon be a brick-and-mortar restaurant, and I think their ambitious food would be best prepared in that kind of setup.  

Now, let’s get back to my sunburned head. We waited a good 30 minutes after placing our order to get our food. If there were hordes of customers that would be understandable, but business was minimal that day. CheddaTruck had placed one of its employees outside the truck, taking orders and processing payments. Once again, this would make sense if there were big crowds, but she stood outside with us, not doing much, as we waited for our food. That didn’t make much sense. We could have used her services in the actual truck. There are people with sensitive scalps out here!

Would I go back to CheddaTruck? I think so. There were some intriguing menu items that we didn’t get — in particular, the Mother Hen, which has bacon, a fried egg, Muenster cheese and sriracha aioli on an English muffin. How could I say no to that? Next time, though, I’m bringing a hat.

CHEDDATRUCK

Where: Various locations throughout Utah Valley

Hours: Varied lunch and dinner hours, depending on day

Prices: Burgers $6-$9, sides $3-$6

Info: Facebook.com/cheddatruckutah, (602) 865-9797