Two Food Truck Fests for Charity

Today brings word of two different food truck charity events in the next week:

The first one, a "Secret Pop Up Party for LA Street Food Fest fans" from the organizers of the first Street Food Festival downtown and a subsequent one in the Rose Bowl, will be held tomorrow (Friday November 12th) evening from 6 - 9 pm at the Heritage Square Museum, east of Dodger Stadium and just East of the 110 Freeway.  The event is free but limited to only 300 ticketholders who sign up for tickets here.  The required password is foodfestlove.    The event is a benefit for Toys for Tots so all attendees will need to bring a new unwrapped toy to gain admission and as the organizers note, if you bring a plus one, two people equals two toys.  Both the Hungry Nomad and the Manila Machine will be there selling food.  Its for the children!  Remember you need to get a free ticket online to go, you need toy(s) and the food isn't free so come prepared.

The second upcoming event is Trucking Through the Holidays, a food truck festival next Thursday evening November 18th from 6 - 9 pm at Jaxon Home in the Helms Bakery Complex (where the Culver City Father's Office is located).  This event is also free and requires no tickets to attend.  Each of the participating food trucks will be donating a portion of their proceeds to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.  They will also be accepting canned food and cash donations directly to the Foodbank, which is facing unprecedented demand for its food from unemployed and underemployed families.

Both of these events provide opportunities for fans of food trucks to help those in need while enjoying some of the best food on four wheels.  Please consider attending these events and helping those in need.

Schnitzel Wagon: Fried, Breaded and on Wheels

When Zach from Midtown Lunch suggested trying out the Schnitzel Wagon, I was hesitant.  Drive all the way downtown for fried cutlets from a truck?  But the scent of fried food won out and I headed over to 350 Grand Avenue to go check it out with him.  The meat is kosher and they are in the process of converting their entire truck to having kosher certification.

The day we went the options were chicken or cod schnitzel.  On other days they have additional meats and on Fridays they have falafel.  The schnitzel comes either in a sandwich for $8 or as a combo plate with two sides for $10.  The combo plate is the way to go.  The chicken schnitzel sandwich (below) came with lettuce, tomato and choice of half a dozen different sauces.  The chicken was moist and crispy but the bread was underwhelming. It would have been even better as a plate, so we wouldn't have had to work to get at it.

The cod was perhaps even better than the chicken (comparing just the meat and ignoring the bread issue), which surprised me as I wasn't expecting to be so enthusiastic about it.  It had a nice crunch exterior and a firm yet tender interior.  We got several different sauces including sriracha and barbeque.  Coleslaw, garden salad, potato salad and french fries were the options for the sides and we opted for the potato salad and fries.  The fries were limp but I enjoyed the potato salad more than Zach, perhaps because it had no mayonnaise taste and I am mayo-averse.

The plate is the superior choice and the portion size is ample.  With the cod, they even suggested getting it as a plate as the fish portion is too much for a sandwich.  They have consistently parked on S. Grand Avenue near Starry Kitchen and CASA but I'd follow their twitter account to be sure they will be out that day.  Once the kosher certification comes through there will be delivery to the jewelry district, and hopefully other parts of downtown.  That would be great as the only thing better than fried food is fried food delivered to your door.

Philly Cheese Truck Faceoff: South Philly Experience vs Lee's Philly

South Philly Experience and Lee's Philly both put bring their take on the Philly Cheese Steak to LA via their gourmet food trucks. SPE goes the more traditional route, while Lee's brings the Korean BBQ take on the classic.  Apparently a third cheese steak truck, Bera's launched last month, but I have not encountered it yet.

South Philly Experience

The SPE truck launched early last September and has become one of the more popular mobile gourmet food trucks with their offerings of a variety of sandwiches in traditional cheese steak bread, with local Philly brand chips and desserts.

SPE describes their cheese steak as "thinly sliced rib-eye, seasoned and grilled “wit” or “witout” onions jam-packed into a 9” Amoroso roll with your choice of cheese. (Wiz, American, Provolone." Although the menu includes pizza steak and chicken cheese steak among other sandwiches, I stuck with the traditional cheese steak and got it with Wiz.

The roll was soft and the meat was traditional in flavor and you could taste the cheese.  While not quite at the level of a physical restaurant offering, it was a satisfying sandwich that scratched my Philly Cheese Steak itch.

Lee's Philly

Lee's Philly Gogi is a Korean take on the Philly Cheese Steak and launched in February of this year.  When I looked at their menu (below, bottom) it struck me as more of a Korean taco truck looking to find another type of sandwich to put their existing filling in.

I had the Gogi Beef Cheese Steak, to see how their Korean BBQ take on the sandwich would be.  There was hardly any cheese and what cheese there was contributed no taste to the sandwich.  The sign said 3 slices of cheese but that wasn't what I got in my sandwich.  The marinade on the Gogi Beef overwhelmed any other flavors so that was all I tasted.  Overall it was a so so sandwich and a mediocre take on the Philly Cheese Steak.  As Lee's already does Burritos and Tacos, the Philly part of it struck me as more of a gimmick.  It wouldn't surprise me if they got Vietnamese baguettes and added Banh mis to their repertoire.

There was no line to order but it took a full fifteen minutes to get my order, which is a very long time to wait for a sandwich from a truck during lunch time.  In contrast the SPE's sandwich was ready within five minutes, despite coming at peak lunch time.

The Verdict

Overall winner of this faceoff was the SPE, hands down. Their sandwich was tastier, came out quickly and was satisfying. Other trucks do the Korean take on (name the dish) better, so I see no reason to go back to Lee's when Kogi etc is out there.

Thrillist Food Truck Rally

Over 600 hungry folks attended the Thrillist Road Truck Rally at Siren Studios in Hollywood where for $5 each attendee got to sample food from five food trucks. Relative newcomer Dante's Fried Chicken beat out fellow competitors the Dim Sum Truck, Frysmith, Komodo and Lardon. Dante's wowed the crowd with samples of their "Sock-it-to-me Fried Chicken" which came covered in a hot sauce that was legitimately spicy (Thai spicy in the way that Zach from Midtown Lunch and I were unable to get at a recent meal in Thaitown).

The winning Fried Chicken is shown below on a tray as attendees hungrily attacked it, muscling in to get every last piece in moments. The Rally benefited Meals on Wheels, and was sponsored by Bacardi, which provided unlimited free cocktails (rum and coke or sprite) to the thirsty attendees, as it was a very warm day.

The other offering from Dante's was a biscuit with brisket and slaw (below), which was fine but didn't hold a candle to the delicious fried chicken. Despite the high turnout (it was full but never felt crowded) the lines were long for each of the five food trucks.

It wasn't clear to me if some or all trucks were selling items in addition to giving away the free samples. The dim sum truck was selling other food, but there was no mention of it at Dante's. I sampled food from Frysmith, Dante's and Dim Sum truck (I don't eat pork so skipped Lardon and had eaten Komodo recently) and agreed with the crowd's selection of Dante's food as the best.

Overall this was a fun event and it was great to see a bunch of friends, but if this event is repeated, I'd have a couple more trucks and more availability of water or non-alcoholic beverages as a hot day, small amounts of food and unlimited booze can lead to some messy consequences.  Jeff Miller from Thrillest did a good job of getting an assortment of trucks, including two newish ones (Dante's and Lardon).

Manila Machine - Chicken Adobo on Wheels

The Manila Machine, a Filipono gourmet food truck launched last month by two food bloggers, Nastassia Johnson (Let Me Eat Cake) and Marvin Gapultos (Burnt Lumpia). Their innagural service at Downtown Art Walk, sold out rapidly as demand for their Chicken Adobo and Lumpia far exceeded expectations.



The Manila Machine has been mostly on the East Side for the first weeks of its operations, so when I saw that it was stopping by the Hulu offices on Olympic near Bundy on Thursday I leaped at the chance to check it out for myself. Johnson & Gapultos were manning the truck and dishing out the food quickly to the hungry online video workers.

I got their signature Chicken Adobo (pictured below) which is chicken braised in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay and black pepper and served alongside steamed jasmine rice. ($5). The chicken was served on the bone with the skin on and was tender and flavorful. The vinegar came through as the strongest note in the taste. It was not spicy at all. The jasmine rice had a nice flavor to it.



I also got one of the sliders (pictured below), which made up half of the menu. I opted for the beef tapa pan de sal slider. It was described as sweet calamansi beef, achara slaw, and spicy sriracha mayo on a pan de sal roll. ($3). The beef is several chunks, rather than a patty. The slider was easy to eat in just a few bites and was enjoyable although not as tasty as the adobo. I think both could have used some extra hot sauce, something I will ask for next time.



The menu is pictured below and you can see their full menu on the Manila Machine website here. Apparently the truck is so successful that it has already spawned an imitator. The Manila Machine will be participating at the LA Street Food Fest at the Rose Bowl on July 24th. You can buy tickets here.



I had never had Filipino food before, so I can't speak to the authenticity of the food, but can vouch for its deliciousness. You can watch a piece that local Fox LA affiliate did about them here.

In order to find the Manila Machine, check out their website and/or follow their twitter account for the latest updates.