L.A. Gourmet Food Trucks

Take a drive down L.A.’s Miracle Mile at lunchtime, or hit The Brig in Venice in the morning, what you might be surprised to see is not your run of the mill roach coaches but the new food trucks of today.  These food trucks are not your average catering truck of yesterday but are actually gourmet mobile eateries.  Their owners are pushing the envelope when it comes to meals on wheels, and giving local restaurant owners a run for their money.  Their fans track their movements on Twitter and other websites continually in search of the food truck delicacies they have to offer.

Perhaps the ones to thank for the food truck craze would be Roy Choi and Mark Manguera. These two chefs blended Korean and Mexican flavors together to come up with the perfect combination of taste, and started selling their creations from a food truck called Kogi.  Immediately they gained a cult following of customers, who eagerly tracked the food trucks whereabouts via Twitter updates.  L.A. foodies waited in seemingly endless lines for the delicious fare.  Today there are now five Kogi food trucks to satisfy the demands of their 67,000 Twitter followers.

What Kogi food trucks started has spread to over 100 different gourmet food trucks located everywhere between San Fernando Valley and Orange County, and everywhere in-between. These food trucks serve everything form Indian dosas (Dosa Truck), to St. Louis barbecue (Barbie’s Q), to Hawaiian bread breakfast sliders (Buttermilk).

Border Grill Truck- Is a gourmet Taco Truck run by Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, both chef-owners of the Border Grill restaurants and Cuidad.  Because of their love for the traditional Taco Trucks of L.A., these two women have always wanted to take their food on the road, and now they are with Border Grill Truck.  Decked out with a sleek black exterior, the Border Grill Truck serves some of the same fantastic dishes you would find in the Border Grill Restaurant, but also sells creations that are truck-only meals.  Some of the great truck creations include Avocado Tacos, and Churro tots. 

• Poblano Quesadilla- roasted poblano chiles, chipotle salsa, and three Mexican cheeses in a handmade four tortilla.
• Green Corn Tamal- a take on the green corn tamales served in the restaurant, this variation with sweet corn, crema, and salsa fresca, comes in a paper cone.
• Churro Tots- dulce de leche infused churro bites with cinnamon-sugar are served with fresh whipped cream.

The Grilled Cheese Truck- Michele Grant and Dave Danhi came together to launch their lunch truck business this past year called, The Grilled Cheese Truck. The inspiration for the creation of The Grilled Cheese Truck came when Danhi attended the 2009 Grilled Cheese Invitational, a cook off in L.A. that drew about 5,400 attendees. Danhi had always believed that other people had shared his obsession with grilled cheese and this event proved it. Grant and Danhi took the idea and made it a reality with their business venture in The Grilled Cheese Truck. Grilled cheese is comfort food, family food, friendly food, and that is exactly the kind of patron The Grilled Cheese Truck attracts.

• Plain and Simple Melt- French or wheat bread and a choice of four cheeses.
• Cheesy Mac and Rib: mac ‘n’ cheese and optional barbecue pork and caramelized onions, mashed inside a grilled cheese sandwich
• Brie Melt- with sliced pears and honey on cranberry-walnut bread

Phamish Food Truck- For Vietnamese food the place to go is Phamish Food Truck. This family owned and operated food truck business was created by entrepreneur Lisa Le, who has always had a passion for cooking. All but one of the recipes sold on the Phamish Food Truck are Lisa Le’s very own, created after watching and learning from others in her native Vietnam for years. She learned from neighbors, friends and even other Vietnamese restaurants and finally experimented with her own style and flavor. Her experiment has paid off; the food at Phamish is simply to die for. Even though Le works practically 24/7 on her food she is happy because she loves it and you can tell.

• Grilled Steak Banh Mi- a fresh baguette stuffed with hot marinated grilled steak and cool chopped veggies and herbs, including pickled carrots, daikon, cilantro and jalapeno
• Rare Steak Pho- pho tai
• Fresh Mint Lemon Soda

Frysmith Food Truck- Wanting to do something that nobody else has done with fries, Frysmith’s Eric Cho has created an entire menu based on french fries.  Growing up in the food business Cho worked in his mom’s burger shops and had always had an interest in fries, in fact, he viewed them as a blank slate just ready for creation.  The Frysmith begins its fry creations with Kennebec potatoes, thinly sliced and double-fried in canola oil for maximum crunch.  That same oil is later recycled and used as fuel for the truck. Then he adds toppings inspired by his roots in Baldwin Park, which means anything from Latino, to Middle Eastern, to Korean cuisines.  The fries from the Frysmith Food Truck are certainly not your ordinary french fries.

• Rajas Fries- poblano chiles, caramelized onions, shawarma-marinated steak and jack cheese on top of fries.
• Chili Cheese Fries
• Poutine- a French-Canadian greasy-spoon staple consisting of fries smothered in brown gravy and cheese curds
• Kimchi Fries

India Jones Chow Truck- When Sumant Pardal’s restaurant closed in 2009, he didn’t waste much time finding another food adventure.  That adventure is what is known as India Jones Chow Truck.  Pardal has a long legacy in the food industry.  He started working with his father in his father’s restaurant in Jaipur, India as soon as he was old enough and has spent the last 27 years in Los Angeles owning 12 different restaurants including the popular East India Grill chain.  The India Jones Chow Truck is just his latest culinary endeavor.  The food is mostly North Indian regional fare, including a rotating list of four curries, plus paratha, samosa spring rolls, and frankies. Pardal believes that the food in the Food Truck industry must have a “wow” factor in them for customers to want to return.  India Jones Chow Truck has got that “wow”.

• Lamb Frankie- lamb with cilantro, tamarind, chutney, chopped onion, egg, all wrapped in roti flat bread.
• Butter Chicken Curry
• Kemma Paratha- minced beef

FOR LUNCH

• Downtown- near USC
• Westwood- near UCLA
• Midtown- Wilshire Boulevard/Miracle Mile, between Fairfax Avenue and Hauser Boulevard
• West L.A.- near the intersection of Tennessee and Butler avenues
• Santa Monica- Pennsylvania Avenue, east of 26^th Street
• Torrance- Toyota, Honda, and BMW headquarters

 FOR DINNER

• Venice- The Brig/ Abbot Kinney Boulevard
• Silver Lake- Sunset Junction area, near Intelligentsia coffeehouse
• Downtown- Art Walk , on Main Street by Fourth Street

So for the latest in gourmet food try the new food truck sensation hitting the streets of L.A. and experience the finest street food around.  You might find that you too will be tracking your favorite food truck via Twitter to find out just exactly where they will be for the day.