A Little Taste Of All That Food At Boston Calling

Doughnuts. Tater tots. Oysters on the half shell. Ramen? Yes, ramen!

With more than 35 food vendors feeding the hungry, dancing masses at Boston Calling, we wanted to check in with a few local purveyors who trucked in their sometimes surprising festival fare. The venue offered an opportunity for folks to sample signature dishes from some in-demand Boston-area makers.

This is the Shuck Truck's second year at Boston Calling. The roving seafood operation was founded in Wellfleet two years ago. This weekend, owner Julia Nadler said they cracked some 5,000 Wellfleet and Standish Shore oysters.

Ramen might not be an item you'd expect at a festival. But Yume Wo Katare was a crowd favorite on Sunday when the temperature dropped to 50 degrees. At the brick and mortar shop in Cambridge's Porter Square, you're given the goal — along with lots of support -- to finish the entire heaping bowl of noodles and broth so your dreams will come true.

Roxy's got its start as a food truck in 2011 and has expanded to serve its adventurous grilled cheese sandwiches at shops in Allston, Central Square and Lynnfield. As the story goes, when founding owner James DiSabatino graduated from Emerson College and went on tour with his brother's punk rock band he joked he could live off of bread and cheese alone. One of Roxy's signature offerings at Boston Calling this weekend was the Green Muenster with bacon and guacamole.

This local favorite with multiple locations is known for its flavorful pizza dough. General manager Tyler Smith said it took 40 days to prepare 7,000 garlic knots, which they kept frozen until they carted all that dough — and a mobile pizza oven — to Boston Calling's Allston location. “We wanted to have fun working and listening to music,” he told me. “It's good for the staff, and it's good to get out in front of more people.” This was Area Four's first year at the fest.

Owner Phil Pham has been bringing his dense, dough confections from his shop in Harvard Square to Boston Calling since the festival debuted in 2013. He said his goal was to sell 4,500 waffles, which he met last year. Pham brought 320 pounds of bananas and 15 seven-pound tubs of Nutella for his decadent concoctions.

Doughnuts as festival nourishment? For its Boston Calling debut, Union Square Donuts manager Dana Einhorn said the team prepped 2,000 fresh doughnuts on Friday, 2,000 on Saturday and 1,500 for Sunday.

Here's a popular vegan toasted coconut confection on the menu at Boston Calling. Union Square Donuts of Somerville, and more recently Brookline, also served Vanilla Bean, Maple Bacon, Vietnamese Coffee, Sea Salt Bourbon and Vegan Orange Mango.