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Archive for the ‘Food Trucks’ Category

It is good form to make eye contact while toasting.

» Get Toasted Food Truck (Facebook)

Some of us are really excited for the Eat Real event, so excited we might even brave the 405 closure debacle & cross from East to West side. Heck, some of us who think free labor is like running in public — the horror — might even volunteer.

Here’s the official blurb, interspaced with photos from the “Preview Event”, followed by further thoughts on the festivities inspired by the Eat Real Fest Oakland:

The Eat Real Festival, the urban food extravaganza that showcases food in all its tasty forms, has just announced highlights of the lineup for the jam-packed Los Angeles event taking place at the Helms Bakery District in Culver City, CA on July 16th and 17th, 2011. Offering an extraordinary opportunity for people to celebrate not only the very best of their regional foods, but also the people who grow it and make it. Attendees will get up close and personal with their food through two days of non-stop food skills and hands on DIY demos including a “flying knives” butchery contest, an eclectic array of local food producers in the marketplace and a curated selection of delicious street eats incorporating local and sustainable ingredients all priced at $5 or less. “Eat Real takes the idea of and old-time state fair and turns it on its head,” said Anya Fernald, founder of Eat Real Festival. “For two full days, attendees can dine and sip on delicious items that highlight local, healthy and sustainable ingredients. But eating and drinking is only part of the fun. We’ll also put people in touch with their food by showing how it’s made – from making jam, sauerkraut or bread, raising backyard chickens and bees, to seeing the artistry involved in butchering a steer or pig. We celebrate the very best southern California has to offer and will activate thousands of people to demand good food, all the time.”

There is no cost for entry into the Eat Real Festival. In fact, there is no cost for any of the festival activities that includes music, workshops, demonstrations and events like the canning and butchery contests. The only cost when attending the Eat Real Festival will come from shopping in the marketplace or purchasing food from the food vendors on site. By agreeing to take part in Eat Real, vendors commit to using 1-2 local or sustainable ingredients in their food, hormone free meat and ensure that all prepared food for sale on site will be priced $5 or less. There is also space devoted to local food craft folks (cheese, charcuterie, pickles, jams, and more) and urban homesteading where attendees can learn what it takes to get in touch with your inner backyard farmer.

For the first time in the HISTORY of Bigmista’s BBQ, the team will offer their retail wares west of the 405, north of 90. Hollah at Neil’s new dream smoke rig. Mothercluck, in addition to demo’ing new ice cream to be sold under Mother Moo, will be selling her jams, Creme Caramel LA has been battling carpal tunnel to offer their best custard French flan, and Lindy & Grundy will be grilling brats served to order. The Mother in Law Kimchi Company, is flying in from NYC to demo kimchi making. Not sure why Eat Real LA needs Korean New Yorkers, but this company is a bit of a rockstar, and we shall so graciously indulge them. Of note, the fava bean “dip” we sampled from Hollywood Farmers Kitchen were kinda.. good. With beer, or without beer. (Dr., If you’re reading, I’m really not drinking. Really. O_o)

If all of this still doesn’t make you feel better about your vapid degustatory life style dotted by frequent trips to El Taurino, Kogi, Barney’s Beanery and the Griddle, attend the anti-star studded Kickoff Party ($45) which benefits Rootdown L.A. along with the Social Justice Learning Institute. Eat for the good of others, instead for the good of an event planner — not that we don’t love event planners. Best of all, this isn’t a gluttonous,AYCE, bottom-less pit, cause that’s not real. Real is what Confucius (or some other wise old Chineser) taught us: “be seventy percent full”.

Eat Real Fest LA
July 16 – 17
Saturday 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Sunday 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

-Sinosoul

The full name of this joint is Ricos Marisco El Rey del Maz. No kidding. How’s a gringo s’pose to remember that?

The crowning of Mexicali Tacos as LATacos.com 2011 champ begs the question: what if you do not like carne asada? What if your parents always took you on vacations in La Paz and all you want is a single fried fish taco, without trekking up to Hollywood-adjacent? What if you’re a fashion blogger in… God forbid… Alhambra? With a hankering for fish tacos?

The answer is clear: Ricos Tacos, in East Los Angeles.

Chances are, it’ll be open. In fact, it’s almost always open. There are no trick hours. This truck doesn’t have a twitter account, it doesn’t have blogger groupies. What it does have, is the underbellies of East LA passing through, collecting your Sangria bottle, your hecho en Mexico Coca Cola, just as you finish.

Is the fish as delicate as those at Best Fish Tacos Enseneda? Probably not. Is it as expertly fried as Ricky’s? Probably not. What you get are 2 fish filets, gently fried to the shade of Fish-O-Filet, for $3. Wrapped in the rather large corn tortilla, the fried filets, topped with rather thin crema and cabbage, present a hand-to-mouth challenge; hence Team Ricos provides forks. And if you’re lucky, you can find the napkin box to complete the eating process. Most locals ask for “con chile”, but the chile hot sauce is (again) rather thin, and presents minimal burn, so don’t go “sin” on it. Other popular choices are the cocteles, and the gigantuan paper plateful of various marisco on tostada.

There’s hardly a place to properly eat these floppy plates of seafood, even if you’re not Mimi Sheraton. Thankfully, the El Super supermarket’s parking lot is merely steps away, as is the equally fabulous Cemitas Tepeaca.

Ricos Tacos (Marisco El Rel del Maz)
(by El Super)
430 N Indiana St
Los Angeles, CA 9006

– SinoSoul.com

WHAT DID RYAN ORDER FROM THIS FOOD TRUCK???
Episode Five: The Pit Stop

WEEK 5 INCENTIVE: $15.38 in FOOD TRUCK BUX are at stake this week!!!!!

The rules are simple:
Guess what I ordered verbatim within 24 hours and you will win a FREE FOOD TRUCK TAB (maximum retail value $10 $15.38). Break it down:

Do not worry about beverages You must take the exact menu items into consideration Be wary of side dishes and substitutions, for they do matter Write your guess in the comment section and be sure to use a valid e-mail address, which will not be published First person to guess my order within 24 hours of the post wins a food truck tab (up to $10 $15.38 in food truck bux)

Over time, you may begin to get an idea of Ryan’s eating habits, and your guesses may become more educated. Fun! Everybody ready? How Well Do You Know Your Trucks!?

Here we go!

TRUCK: THE PIT STOP DATE:Wednesday 15 December 2010 TIME: 12:14 pm CLUE: The Pit Stop (twitter)

» WDROFTFT??? – Ep. 1: Uncle Lau’s
» WDROFTFT??? – Ep. 2: Ludotruck
» WDROFTFT??? – Ep. 3: Baby’s Badass BurgersS
» WDROFTFT??? – Ep. 4: The Pit Stop

WHAT DID RYAN ORDER FROM THIS FOOD TRUCK???
Episode Three: Baby’s Badass Burgers

WEEK 3 INCENTIVE: $12 in FOOD TRUCK BUX are at stake this week!!!!!

The rules are simple:
Guess what I ordered verbatim within 24 hours and you will win a FREE FOOD TRUCK TAB (maximum retail value $10 $12). Break it down:

Do not worry about beverages You must take the exact menu items into consideration Be wary of side dishes and substitutions, for they do matter Write your guess in the comment section and be sure to use a valid e-mail address, which will not be published First person to guess my order within 24 hours of the post wins a food truck tab (up to $10 $12 in food truck bux)

Over time, you may begin to get an idea of Ryan’s eating habits, and your guesses may become more educated. Fun! Everybody ready? How Well Do You Know Your Trucks!?

Here we go!

TRUCK: BABY’S BADASS BURGERS DATE:Thursday 2 December 2010 TIME: 12:14pm CLUE: Baby’s Menu (contains audio)

» WDROFTFT??? – Ep. 1: UNCLE LAU’S
» WDROFTFT??? – Ep. 2: LUDOTRUCK

ABOVE: While writing up THE PLACE‘s truck and informing the driver he needs to move his vehicle, one of ten vying for westside lunchtime dollars on Pennsylvania Avenue, a motorcycled member of the Santa Monica Police Department is photographed today both by the woman with the DSLR camera and the telephone of the author, who looks on with a curiously sweet-and-sour emotional mix of glee and dismay while scarfing food from a competing and possibly soon-to-be-written-up-as-well truck.

Since we originally heard from The Green Truck more than one year ago regarding the shakedown and anti-truck sentiments occurring at that time near Museum Square, Wilshire Blvd, we’ve had various legislature handed down, we’ve had health grades approved, we’ve heard more than once that trucks are soon to be the way of the dodo, and we’ve heard more than twice that trucks are here to stay. The trucks do appear “here to stay”, of course, and with them comes the ever-present threat of a ticket by The Man, both a cost of doing business and a dependable source of municipal revenue for the cities in which both inhabit.

» LA Mobile Vendors Set To Carry Letter Grades (Eater LA)
» LAPD Officially Tasked With Throwing Fines At Your Favorite Truck (Los Angeleaouise)
» Food Truck Lot Closed Down by City of Santa Monica (Los Angelatinous)
» India Jones: Open For Business, Impounded By Po-Po, Back On Streets (Losanjealous)