veg-head LA food truck guide, part 2

last month, i posted my pescetarian guide to the LA food truck scene. and the trucks just keep rolling out, because since then, i've had a chance to try even more of them! here's a slideshow to show you what all 27 of them look like (yes, that's over two dozen of them!): food truck frenzy!

i considered merging my new finds into the old list, but since i haven't posted anything in over three weeks, this is as good an excuse as any to post something new :) so i'll start with the names of the trucks i included in the other list (for details on those trucks, refer to the original list) and i'll add on from there....

asian-latin fusion cuisine trucks:

kogi BBQ (http://www.kogibbq.com/ @kogibbq)
calbi BBQ (http://www.calbibbq.com/ @calbiBBQ)
bool BBQ (http://www.boolbbq.com/ @boolBBQ)
bull kogi (http://www.kimchibulkogi.com/ @bullkogi)
don chow tacos (http://www.donchowtacos.com/ @donchowtacos)
LA fuxion (http://www.lafuxion.com/ @LA_FuXion)

lomo arigato (http://www.lomoarigato.com/ @lomoarigato) - peruvian-japanese; the signature dish is the lomo saltado, a typically peruvian dish that usually features stir-fried beef strips with fries and veggies served with rice. there's also the tallarin saltado (spaghetti) and chaufa (fried rice), both of which are usually meat-based, too. luckily for us vegheads, we have the option of subbing the meat for tofu. i ordered the tofu chaufa and loved it! luckily for me, i found the truck during one of its earlier runs in the south bay and had a chance to chat with eric, the owner. we talked about peruvian food (i vacationed there a year ago and probably ate everything i saw!) and the westside... and how he needed to get his truck there soon so i could have more of his food without having to drive crosstown to get it!


ethnic street food trucks:

marked5 (http://www.marked5.com/ @Marked5)
fishlips sushi (http://www.fishlips-sushi.com/ @fishlips_sushi)
skewers on wheels (http://www.skewersonwheels.com/ @SKEWERSONWHEELS)
india jones chow truck (http://www.indiajoneschowtruck.com/ @indiajonesct)
dosa (http://www.dosatruck.com/ @dosatruck)
nom nom (http://www.nomnomtruck.com/ @nomnomtruck)
border grill (www.bordergrill.com/bg_t/bg_twel.htm @BorderGrill)

panini on wheels (http://www.paninionwheels.com/ @paninionwheels) - italian paninis; this truck is hard to spot, not because you can't see it, but because it has no visible signage on it. at least not yet. so if you see a white truck sitting around where their tweet says they'll be, pull over and walk up to it because that's them. their menu is short and sweet; of the four paninis they offer, three of them are possibles for peskies like me: the catch (tuna salad - filling!), the yogi (mozzarella/tomato -- named after me perhaps?), and the nut (nutella - yum!). while their initial forays had them charging a bit too much for their food, they've thankfully lowered their prices to bring themselves more in line with everyone else. now if they can only expand their menu a bit more and offer eggplant, artichokes, spinach, roasted peppers and the like, they'd place themselves right there at the top of my list...


good-old american grub trucks:

green truck (http://www.greentruckonthego.com/ @Green_Truck)
let's be frank (http://www.letsbefrankdogs.com/ @letsbefrank)
south philly experience (http://www.southphillyexperience.com/ @SouthPhillyExp)
barbie's Q (http://www.barbiesq.com/ @BarbiesQ)
LA BBQ guy (http://www.labbqguy.com/ @labbqguy)
chef on wheels BBQ (http://www.chefonwheelscatering.com/ @chefonwheelsBBQ)

baby's badass burgers (http://www.babysbadassburgers.com/ @babysbbs) - burgers; while the badass babies will tempt you with visions of juicy meat burgers, resist the urge and stick with the veggie option. you will find yourself loving every bite of the two veggie burger sliders oozing with guac and veggie goodness! and as for their sweet potato fries, they're probably some of the best you can find on any food truck today, so get those, too! i've hit this truck at least three times now, and i still get excited every time i pick up my order... and no, it's not from ogling the big-bosomed beauties painted on the side of the truck...

gastrobus (http://www.thegastrobus.com/ @thegastrobus) - sandwiches; they aren't on the westside much, so after a long wait, i finally had a chance to try out their fare at the recent abbot kinney festival in venice. the only sandwich on their menu appropriate for vegheads like me was their cucumber/roasted pepper/hummus sandwich, but for some reason, they didn't carry it that day (and i can't imagine why, because a good majority of the street fair goers were earth-loving tree-hugging vegetarians!). not wanting to pass up a chance to try something from their truck, i called a meat emergency and ordered the pulled pork with some sweet potato fries to go with it. and oooooooh, it was soooo goooood! needless to say, i need to find them again to try out their veggie sandwich. hopefully i won't have to wait that long!

grilled cheese truck (http://www.thegrilledcheesetruck.com/ @grlldcheesetruk) - soups and sandwiches; as the name implies, their specialty is grilled cheese sandwiches. and boy, are they good! you can always settle for the plain and simple grilled cheese variety with your choice of cheese (american, cheddar, mozzarella, or gruyere) and bread (white or wheat), but if i were you, i would definitely go for their gourmet options. there's the caprese melt with mozzarella, tomato, basil, and balsamic syrup. and then there's the harvest melt with gruyere, butternut squash, leeks, and balsamic syrup, with some agave syrup to add a hint of sweetness. and if you ask me, squash rules!! to round off your meal, add on some tomato soup (they also had pumpkin when i was there) and some tater tots. and if you still have room (and i don't see how), try their dessert melt with nutella, banana puree, and marshmallows. i mean, who counts calories, anyway? :(


and lastly, my personal favorite, the dessert trucks (which are totally vegetarian!):

get shaved (http://www.getshavedice.com/ @getshaved)
coolhaus (http://www.eatcoolhaus.com/ @COOLHAUS)
king kone (http://www.kingkone.net/ @kingkonela)

there are still many more that i've heard about and have yet to try, so stay tuned... it won't be long :)

indecision

my alarm clock went off at 7:30 this morning.

cursing it as i reached for the snooze button, it gently reminded me that i was the one who set it last night. perhaps because i wanted to take a sunday morning yoga class?

argh.

i fired up my laptop and checked my bookmarked emails, websites, and facebook pages.

i had skipped my yoga class yesterday because i was busy stressing out over an expired passport (i'm leaving for the philippines next weekend!) and a sky-high cell phone bill (who's racking up all those minutes anyway?). so i considered sweating it out in a morning class filled with obsessively-driven yogis. steve ross at maha was being subbed by tom morley. vinnie marino at yogaworks main street was being subbed by kia miller. and matt reyes at yogahop was being subbed by... himself.

but just thinking about all that sweat made me want to head back to bed and snooze some more... so i did.

half an hour later, i went back to my laptop and checked the freebie bin.

FREE sunday morning community classes at the lululemons. beverly hills had someone named emilie from a place called jk zen fitness. since i had never heard of either, i googled "jk zen fitness" and found a website for a personal trainer named juliet kaska. and while she mentions that she's hosting lulu BH's fitness in october, she never says who emilie is. hmmm... santa monica had nicole sciacca from YAS (as in yoga for the "no sanskrit no granola" athletes). brentwood had jen pastiloff from yogaco (and i had been promising jen that i'd take her class the first chance i had). and south bay had aimee (donohue, i assume) from the yogaworks down the driveway. all at 9:30am. i still had time to make one of them. any of them.

there was the option of a FREE* kundalini class at the new truekundalini in west LA (* "free" because they had an opening special of $1 for unlimited yoga for 2 weeks, and i had already paid my buck when i took patrick lacho's class the other day). there was a "yoga aquatics" class at 10:30am. cool! and i had even more time to sit around and veg before that class.

there was also the opening special at the green yogi in manhattan beach (another new yoga studio!). all classes FREE from oct 3rd through the 12th. mary fanto (who clued me in about the new studio last week) was teaching an all-levels class at 11:15am. an even later class!

then there was my dilemma about the FREE acroyoga class for teachers with lara catone and sarah vosen at rising lotus in sherman oaks. lara had sent me a note about the class, which i took to be a personal invitation. but then again, because i know so many yoga teachers here in LA, many people automatically assume i'm one, too. but i'm not. and since the class title had "for teachers" in it, was i then excluded from the participant pool? the class would go for three hours starting at 12:30pm. so did i feel gutsy enough to drive all the way over the hill and crash the class? did i feel like waiting for FOUR hours before taking a yoga class? what if i somehow got distracted before then and missed class altogether?

what to do? where to go? or should i just go back to bed?

indecision. argh.

just then, a status update popped up from yonnus becker at studio surya yoga in venice: "Nianna (Bray) is teaching her first class today @ 10:30am. As a gift of gratitude, this class will be free to all of the Studio Surya community. Come out and welcome her."

and right after that, a tweet came in from the baby's badass burgers food truck: "BABY'S ESTIMATED TOA AT ABBOT KINNEY IS NOON TODAY. PLEASE COME SAY HI AND ENJOY OUR DELISH MANEATERS-HALF LB BURGER WITH LETTUCE, TOMATO ..."

at that moment, the skies opened up, the sun shone down on me, and i heard the voice of god (or at least someone pretending to be him) saying: "get thee on your bike, go to nianna's class at surya, then head down to the brig after class for delicious veggie sliders and sweet potato fries!"

so i did.

and god must've known better, because when i got to class, i found out that our class consisted of four male students... and me, the lone female :) it was such a thrill being surrounded by all that testosterone! :)

now that i've gotten my yoga practice in for the day (including some vegan chocolate chip cookies and some hot chai tea that nianna brought to class) AND had an extremely filling and satisfying lunch, i find myself back in front of my laptop, wondering how to spend the rest of my day.

argh. indecision.