What is it with LA and Food Trucks?

The biggest fad I have noticed since living here (besides Fedoras) is Food Trucks. People are obsessed with them, and almost every reputable establishment has one. Imagine a Fletcher’s Truck on South Congress for every First Friday and after every football game. Maybe these Californians are onto something…..

Not only do the trucks ride around all of Los Angeles during the peak lunch time, they can also be ordered for catering, and park on major streets for festivals. Jennifer’s office apparently hasn’t been affected by this ‘credit crunch’ and they cater lunch every day for their 200+ employees. The food is usually pretty standard, meaning I never hear what she has for lunch. However, on a rare occasion they really like to splurge and a few weeks ago they ordered the In ‘n Out Truck. I swear she was talking about this truck for 10 days and could not wait for the day to finally come. Jennifer was not the only one in her office excited by this either, Californians cannot get enough of these food trucks! Some have lines that are at least twenty people deep.

When I first moved out here, I remember a friend telling me the food trucks are so good. I immediately furrowed my brow and reminisced back to sophomore year when the damn taco truck would ride up to the construction site across from the Texan and play its little taco music. Little did I know food trucks in LA are gourmet (but I should have been able to guess that).

the grilled cheese truck & the masses

This past weekend in Venice was First Friday, which is similar to Austin’s First Thursday. The food trucks were tweeting all day about where they were going to be parked, and Jennifer had an email chain rolling around 2pm on which truck she was going to go to. I still was not too keen on the idea of eating at one of these ‘restaurants’ on wheels, but whatever when in Rome, right? We waited in line for I kid you not 45 minutes at the grilled cheese truck. JP ordered the Big Kahuna of grilled cheeses. It was filled with cheese (duh), macaroni & cheese, and pulled pork-- she wasn’t playing around. I went for a more basic tomato caprese grilled cheese. People were custom ordering their grilled cheese like they were at McDonalds. There was a wide variety of breads, cheeses, add-ins, desert grilled cheeses, pickles, tators tots, and the list goes on…. After our long wait and toughing through the line, we were expecting the best grilled cheese sandwiches in the world. Well, they sucked. The cheese in JP’s was not even melted. My first food truck experience was a total bust. Next time I am not basing my truck decision on the one with the longest line since that test clearly failed.

Here were some other trucks parked along the street that were not as crowded and probably much better.
Border Grill knew what was up...margs and tacos

Dogtown DOGS...how did I not eat at a truck w/ such a cute name?

korean bbq anyone?

I wish this truck was there!

Sprinkles Cupcake Truck...where were you on 11/7/09 at 8pm?

Does anyone remember when I had the genius idea of making a food truck in Austin that specialized in late night? Does Mel Mel’s Munchies ring a bell? Since LA thinks food trucks are cool that means the rest of the world will too. Maybe I should move home and start up Mel Mel’s Munchies…. Anyone interested in investing??