Food Trucks: Fleeting Fad, or Fun Future of Feeding?
I'm not completely bowled over by the recent LA food truck phenomenon, but I am amused. There are a few trucks I enjoy, and even a couple that I follow on Twitter. One truck I follow just for amusement since their truck always breaks down (I'm looking at you, Coolhaus).
Some people can't fathom the idea of eating food off a truck, but the trucks I've seen are a lot cleaner than most diners, and really - it's just a small kitchen on wheels. Get over it. Other people can't grasp the idea of waiting in line for food, which I can certainly understand. I don't like waiting for food either, but there is a social aspect to hanging out in a food truck queue, and I've met some very nice people while waiting with friends. The waiting in line novelty hasn't worn off for me yet.
Jenna and I have had some pretty stellar food off a few trucks; Kogi for Korean BBQ and Nom Nom for Banh Mi are two of my favorites. But tonight, we had epic disappointment.
Tonight was the opening night for The Grilled Cheese Truck. There is no way I can overstate how much I wanted this truck to rock my fucking socks, for two big, enormous reasons:
1. Grilled cheese sandwiches! Fuck yeah!
2. On a truck! YES!
Since tonight was their first night, and they'd been taunting and teasing the interwebs with pictures of great looking sandwiches for months, I got there early to beat the line - 7:45 arrival for the 8:30 start. 'Round about 8:40, word came from the truck that there were griddle problems afoot in the truck, but they graciously served a few free helpings of hot soup while we waited. And waited.
And waited.
Mechanic arrived to fix the griddle at about 9:20. We were 5th in line, finally got our food at 9:40, two hours after I got there, and over an hour after they were supposed to start. Fine, I understand mechanical problems - can't be helped. They were kind enough to give us the soup samples and a coupon for half off our next sandwich. Good service in a bummer situation. Cool.
But then we got down to eating our long-awaited grilled cheeses. So sad. Even though we only walked about one minute from the truck to sit and eat, our sandwiches were already cold, and the cheese on our "Plain and Simple Melt" was barely melted to begin with. Then we realized they shorted us the side order of macaroni and cheese we ordered, and J had to wait in line for a refund after being told "we aren't making that tonight" even though they took our money for it. Ugh.
To be fair, it wasn't all bad. The "Cheesy Mac and Rib" sandwich was tasty and interesting despite being cold, and their tater tots had great seasoning and were yummy, even though they started out as Ore Ida from a bag.
To be extra-fair, I think The Grilled Cheese Truck has the potential to be great, once they get their shit together and the bugs ironed out. I'm going to reserve final judgment until I give them one more try, maybe two or three weeks from now.
Insult to injury moment of the evening: Jenna and I got $60 parking tickets for being parked on Venice boulevard after 10pm. Grr.
Some people can't fathom the idea of eating food off a truck, but the trucks I've seen are a lot cleaner than most diners, and really - it's just a small kitchen on wheels. Get over it. Other people can't grasp the idea of waiting in line for food, which I can certainly understand. I don't like waiting for food either, but there is a social aspect to hanging out in a food truck queue, and I've met some very nice people while waiting with friends. The waiting in line novelty hasn't worn off for me yet.
Jenna and I have had some pretty stellar food off a few trucks; Kogi for Korean BBQ and Nom Nom for Banh Mi are two of my favorites. But tonight, we had epic disappointment.
Tonight was the opening night for The Grilled Cheese Truck. There is no way I can overstate how much I wanted this truck to rock my fucking socks, for two big, enormous reasons:
1. Grilled cheese sandwiches! Fuck yeah!
2. On a truck! YES!
Since tonight was their first night, and they'd been taunting and teasing the interwebs with pictures of great looking sandwiches for months, I got there early to beat the line - 7:45 arrival for the 8:30 start. 'Round about 8:40, word came from the truck that there were griddle problems afoot in the truck, but they graciously served a few free helpings of hot soup while we waited. And waited.
And waited.
Mechanic arrived to fix the griddle at about 9:20. We were 5th in line, finally got our food at 9:40, two hours after I got there, and over an hour after they were supposed to start. Fine, I understand mechanical problems - can't be helped. They were kind enough to give us the soup samples and a coupon for half off our next sandwich. Good service in a bummer situation. Cool.
But then we got down to eating our long-awaited grilled cheeses. So sad. Even though we only walked about one minute from the truck to sit and eat, our sandwiches were already cold, and the cheese on our "Plain and Simple Melt" was barely melted to begin with. Then we realized they shorted us the side order of macaroni and cheese we ordered, and J had to wait in line for a refund after being told "we aren't making that tonight" even though they took our money for it. Ugh.
To be fair, it wasn't all bad. The "Cheesy Mac and Rib" sandwich was tasty and interesting despite being cold, and their tater tots had great seasoning and were yummy, even though they started out as Ore Ida from a bag.
To be extra-fair, I think The Grilled Cheese Truck has the potential to be great, once they get their shit together and the bugs ironed out. I'm going to reserve final judgment until I give them one more try, maybe two or three weeks from now.
Insult to injury moment of the evening: Jenna and I got $60 parking tickets for being parked on Venice boulevard after 10pm. Grr.
Labels: food
posted by steve at 10:53 PM
1 Comments:
This was my thought process while reading this post:
I like food trucks!
But why would anyone start a grilled cheese truck?
Grilled cheese is, like, the easiest food to make ever.
Buying a grilled cheese sandwich is crazy.
That truck will be out of business in two months.
Hmmm. Now, I would like a grilled cheese sandwich.
*Sigh.* I don't feel like making one.
I wish we had a grilled cheese truck here.
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