Follow That Truck!
In the dark cold of a Thursday night, a line of 70 college-aged kids wait on a sidewalk between UCLA's Mattel Children's Hospital and Frat Row. In the heart of the trendy college town of Westwood, the crew is waiting to see one of LA's rising celebrities, but it's not who – or what – you think. This celebrity isn't some hotshot from the pages of People or the latest vampire flick. It's Kogi, a Korean BBQ fusion gourmet food truck.
Food trucks have been around for decades in large cities to serve the working class and businesspeople alike, but leave it to people of the City of Angels (a.k.a. the City of Trends) to make them hip. These nearly 60 fashionably delicious kitchens on wheels – selling upscale deli sammies to hot dogs and sushi to cupcakes – aren’t your typical roach coach with a horn that plays La Cucaracha. The food truck with a menu a mile long that should come with a side of Pepto has evolved into a stylish mobile gourmet kitchen marketable to the elite and typical city dweller with (even just a little) disposable income. Meet the "foodie" truck.
The grassroots movement began about 16 months ago and exploded in the last six. As undertakings go, none of these trucks market with anything other than their well-branded vehicles, word of mouth, and a little thing called Twitter. Other than petroleum (or ethanol, for some), they fuel their business with the Internet; thus, the popularity explosion of these upgraded food trucks is not just product of their city or their food, but also of the 21st Century. Since they're always changing locations, Twitter is the most effective way to virally broadcast their coordinates and, thus, make it as a business startup in one of the worst economic climates this generation has seen. There is even a website dedicated to posting all the food truck Twitter feeds on one page to simplify the process.
According to UCLA Neurophysiology Technician and food truck devotee for over a year, Don Vince-Cruz, the draw of the gourmet food trucks is many fold. First of all, each of the trucks serve great food, he said, making it practically impossible to rank his top faves. "Kogi is the best," he admitted, "but you can't rank the others because they're all so unique." He added that the ever-changing locations are also a novelty, a sort of dangling carrot that keeps customers on their trail whenever they're in arms reach.
Ah, the Quest. A necessarily difficult journey to find the illusive thing you seek; the more challenging the journey, the more significant the reward. The Twitter feeds provide a sort of treasure map with a scrumptious treat waiting at the end.
To explore this recent emergence of culinary counter-culture, I took a couple of days to explore LA in search of these culinary Holy Grails. I set out with my younger brother of 21, a UCLA college student (food trucks frequent his campus, so he's no stranger to the trend), to help me test the goods, and most of all, man the helm while I navigated via Blackberry. I pursued food trucks in and around LA County based on the following 5 factors: menu, originality, personality, availability (if they weren't serving while I was in town, I couldn't try their food), and last but not least, their number of Twitter fans. Here's the best of the best.
Kogi (Twitter handle: @kogibbq)
Kogi is the kingpin of the food truck phenomenon. This Korean BBQ fusion truck was the first and, with 52,721 Twitter fans, is by far the reigning champion of gourmet food trucks. Four Kogi trucks – Azul, Verde, Rojo, and Naranja – roam the streets of LA County still selling out their short rib tacos and quesadillas from Pasadena to Venice Beach. When I asked Vince-Cruz what's good at Kogi he said, "You get the blackjack taco." That's pretty much what everyone said. So I did.
On a Thursday night after a 45-minute wait in Westwood, I ordered the Black Jack Quesadilla ($7) and two
© Andrea Barrack / RumBum.comThe Kogi short rib tacos. Short Rib Tacos ($2/ea) to share with my brother and brother-in-law (who came along to see what all the fuss was about). The spicy pork quesadilla was slathered in a tangy sweet "salsa verde." Basically anything covered in this secret-recipe sauce (I'm guessing a sesame cilantro variation) would be worth a 45-minute wait, but the specially marinated, tender and lean short rib was also killer. The addition of cheddar and jack made the meaty part of this quesadilla a total winner. However, for the price I wish the cheese would have been a little more melted, plus the outside of the quesadilla was dry and seemed a tad stale.
The short rib tacos come with even more flavors than the Black Jack – sesame-chili salsa roja, julienne romaine, Korean chili-soy vinaigrette, and more salsa verde – and are eye-rollingly delectable. But you don't find out until it's too late that these soft tacos are mini mini. Like, a bite and a half, or maybe the size of my palm. The short ribs still impressed (and short rib without those pesky bones is a magical thing), but for the size these were overpriced.
Bottom Line: Kogi is worth the long wait, but you'll pay more to eat at this trendy truck.
The Nom Nom Truck (Twitter handle: @nomnomtruck)
The Nom Bom Truck sells Vietnamese-inspired tacos and submarine sandwichs the size of your forearm. For
© Andrea Barrack / RumBum.comNom Nom's Lemongrass Chicken Banh Mi. Ah mi! $5, you can get a wildly exotic sandwich that will keep you satisfied for hours. I bounded up to this truck on UCLA's campus during the lunch rush. Thirty minutes later, a Lemongrass Chicken Banh Mi wrapped in butcher paper rested in my hands. Within that butcher paper were simple ingredients, each so bursting with flavor they served up a taste adventure filled with spicy sweet lemongrass-marinated chicken morsels, thick slices of picked carrot and jicama, a handful of cilantro, all sandwiched in a chewy baguette.
Bottom Line: One chicken lemongrass bahn mi: $5.00. A deliciously exotic and filling lunch in LA: Priceless.
FISHLIPS (Twitter handle: @fishlips_sushi)
If you're squeamish about getting sushi from a truck, make an exception for FISHLIPS. Out of all the trucks, this one's got extra large windows that reveal its shiny stainless steel interior. Mounted on one of the glass facades (er, windows) is a flat screen measuring about 30” that shuffles through their menu with mouthwatering full color photos – an impressive upgrade from the typical printed or chalkboard menus.
Immediately drawn into FISHLIPS' remarkably unique and comprehensive menu (and pleasantly surprised by
© Andrea Barrack / RumBum.comThe surprisingly roomy (and clean!) interior of FISHLIPS Sushi truck. their calorie counts per piece and reasonable prices) my sushi-eating cohort and I ordered three items: A Shrimp Caterpillar Roll ($8.20, 34.3 kcal/pc), a Tropical Salmon Roll ($8.20, 35.9 kcal/pc), and a Hamachi/Yellowtail Temari ($2.95, 58.8 kcal/pc). Each role came just as chilled, fresh and delicious as I’ve ever had.
Temari, a fun spin on sashimi, is raw fish resting on rice that’s rolled into a ball. The Hamachi tasted marvelous, (and I couldn’t resist taking a chopstick and pretending it was a fishy billiard ball). The Tropical Salmon Roll was the favorite, with avocado, cucumber, bell pepper, mango, kaiware, and yama-gobo replacing the typical California Roll interior, and thick slices of salmon and delicately thin quartered lemon slices resting on top. I never wanted that enticingly salty, buttery, tangy, sweet symphony of flavors to end.
I figured around the time I was finished with my hearty helping of sushi, I should ask how they keep their fish fresh. “Over half our truck is refrigeration,” the chef (who spoke the most, and still not a lot, of English) told me. “We get fish every day. Sometimes every two days.” That’s better than many sushi restaurants can say. Since they’re on wheels, I guess they could come to you right after they go to the docks. If I could only pick one sushi place for the rest of my life, I’d be happy if it was out of this truck.
Bottom Line: You'll thank yourself for being so bold as to eat sushi from a truck.
Grill ‘Em All (Twitter hande: @GrillEmAllTruck)
My brother and I had to drive about eight miles (about 30 minutes in LA traffic) from Brentwood to Beverly Hills to find this Heavy Metal-themed food truck, battling the incessant cars and horns from Wilshire to Santa Monica while our tummies jonesed for the next tasty fix. As my brother navigated us to the LiveNation HQ where we were directed via Twitter, I yelled with jovial gusto “There it is!” as we completed yet another quest – this one to discover that Grill ‘Em All has heard our cries for an escape from the boring burger.
The entire Grill ‘Em All culture is wrapped in homage to rock and metal greats, from their Metallica-inspired
© Andrea Barrack / RumBum.comJust your ordinary burger and fries? Grill Em All says no. name, to a goblin-like green hand signing “Rock On” on the hood of their truck, to burger names like Carcass and Molly Hatchet. So I must admit I was shocked to find a surprising dichotomy of gourmet selections on their menu – fixin’s like smoked fennel, applewood smoked bacon, and cranberry gastrique. (They do serve a “boring” lettuce, tomato, mayo burger, but to order it you’d have to ask for the Hannah Montana.)
“Yeah, we’re proper chefs here,” said Ryan Harkins, main chef, professional kitchen veteran, and Grill ‘Em All co-founder. Sure enough, another chef in the kitchen proudly donned a Le Courdon Bleu jacket. After just two weeks on the road, they’ve already raked up 1,156 fans on Twitter, and it’s clear why. All their burgers are grass fed and their buns are custom made locally. Their perfectly deep fried pomme fritte ($4) can’t be beat as far as I’m concerned, especially since we decided to throw down an extra dollar for a generous drizzle of truffle oil and a side of malt vinegar aioli dipping sauce. After that extreme flavor boost, french fries will never be the same again.
For our burger we decided to go with the Waste ‘Em All Burger ($6.50) with jack cheese, marinated Anaheim green chiles, and (the kicker) beer soaked onions. The bun was soft with just a touch of outer shell crust, and the juiciness of the burger with the perfectly melted cheese and toppings made a burger with luscious texture and wicked riffs of flavor. “This would go great with a beer,” said my brother (spoken like a true 21-year-old). I couldn’t deny it.
Bottom Line: Their website says it best, “Grill ‘Em All is here to fill the void that music and mayhem cannot.”
The Grilled Cheese Truck (Twitter handel: @grlldcheesetruk)
After Grill ‘Em All, my brother and I really had to hoof it to Hollywood to catch The Grilled Cheese Truck before they closed up shop, a task inducing slight mania until we reached our destination. Then… Eureka!
The Grilled Cheese Truck has been in the biz long enough, and has enough Twitter followers (9,596), to sell
© Andrea Barrack / RumBum.comNot your mom's grilled cheese. well in more specific areas of the city. That day, they chose a Hollywood street packed with post-production and editing offices. “When are you coming back?” and “Can you come here regularly?” asked almost every customer. After one bite you know this is not your mama’s grilled cheese.
For $5 I got not only the best grilled cheese, but one of the best flavored and most satisfying sandwiches, that have ever passed through these lips. Their Harvest Grilled Cheese – with gruyere, sliced roasted butternut squash, sautéed fennel, balsamic and agave syrup – had me in food euphoria. The symphony of melding flavors within the judiciously buttered golden grain toast produced an ideal duo of comfort food and gourmet fare.
We also ordered two of their daily specials. The Smoked Gouda Grilled Cheese, with roasted turkey and tomato sounded great in theory – and the first couple of bites were delicious reminders of the chef’s grilled cheese genius – but once it cooled I realized the cheese wasn’t really melted at all and the tomato made the sandwich soggy. The other I ordered almost completely for the name: Fluffernutter. In lieu of cheese, the chef slapped on oodles of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. The result was a warm and gooey dessert with sugary mallow oozing into each minuscule toast cranny, but I could only take a few bites. I didn’t know anything grilled could give you such a sugar high.
Bottom line: To grilled cheese… and beyond!
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