Lines. Long lines. That was basically the theme of the very first LA Street Food Festival at the LA Center Studios. I’m really glad I wasn’t the one driving, because Linda had to brave the stop-and-go traffic on the way to the venue, plus fight for parking on the hectics streets surrounding the event. By the time we arrived (around 1:30 or so), the line into the festival was already wrapping its way around several blocks.
Fortunately, due to special circumstances (thanks Justin and Heather!), we got in without having to wait in line. After we paid our $5 general admission, we were ready to launch our plan of attack. We decided to divide and conquer–Sam and Joseph, Crystal and me, Linda and Jen, Heather and Justin…Diana somehow managed to float around from line to line. We also cooperated with Justin’s sister, brother-in-law, and parents. Apparently, most of our fellow festival-goers used the same methods, so I suppose we were all “foodies in arms.”
Not only that, but I ran into one of my Biola friends, Sara. We spent some time together in line, catching up on each others’ lives and reminiscing about our orientation week at Biola (when we first met). While we were talking, one of the promoters for Mobi Munch, who heard that we were from Biola (he’s a fan) and gave us lots of coupons for yummy fried chicken. Being a Biola alum definitely has its perks.
Anyways, the best part of the festival for me was getting to try a little of everything. I felt bad for anyone who came, say, as a couple, and had to split up to stand in multiple lines; they didn’t have anyone to talk to whilst waiting. But since we had a large group of people, it was great fun to wait in line and have food brought directly to us. One moment, Joseph and Diana came over with tacos from Komodo. And then ten or 15 minutes later, Justin came over with goodies from the Grilled Cheese Truck saying, “Here, take a bite.” Each line was a conquest, and the food items we brought back were like the spoils of war.
It was surprising how many people showed up for the festival–I guess I didn’t really know what to expect. So many people were waiting outside the venue for hours, and when they did finally get in, they only had time to get in line for one or two things. The street food festival really seemed to capture the things that I’ve learned to appreciate about LA (I know, Ariel, I don’t love LA nearly as much as you do): we have so many different kinds of people and access to so many different kinds of food. And California cuisine is all about fusing foods together or adding a twist to the traditional. Food trucks are very trendy right now (you know how LA hipsters can’t resist a good trend), and LA food-lovers were willing to wait hours in line to eat from their favorite mobile food vendors. Plus, the weather was beautiful and sunny.
That being said, here’s the full list of the grub we managed to grab (in no particular order; thanks to Diana for the photos!):
1. Mama Koh’s Chicken
Semi-spicy Korean chicken wings. Small size, but very tasty. And they were cool enough to let us take a picture with their food when we failed to take the photo BEFORE eating ours. That’s how hungry we were.
2. Komodo
I’m not sure which ones Sam and Joseph tried, but Crystal and I were given the Komodo Signature, with “top sirloin … homemade guacamole and Cotija cheese,” and the Asian-marinated chicken with rice and mandarin oranges. The concept sounds strange, but they were quite possibly the best thing I ate all day.
3. The Grilled Cheese Truck
This was the “cheesy mac and rib,” which is what you get when you combine classic macaroni and cheese and bbq pork in a grilled cheese sandwich. It was messy and gooey and tasted better than it looked. My brother and I will have to track down this truck sometime so Garrett can see what it’s like to mix two of his favorite foods (that’s grilled cheese and mac ‘n cheese, for those of you who were going to ask if he’s suddenly started eating bbq pork). We also tried their dessert melt with banana, Nutella, and marshmallow. The Grilled Cheese Truckdefinitely had one of the longest lines at the festival. Fortunately, someone else stood in it, not me.
4. Baby’s BA Burgers
By the time we got near the bright pink truck (the line put us pretty far back), they had already run out of the “Cougar” (aged beef, St. Andre cheese, black truffles), so we settled for the “Original Beauty” (swiss, grilled onions, sauteed mushrooms, jalapenos) and the “Mamacita” (pepper jack cheese, guacamole, tomato, grilled onions, jalapenos). Normally priced between $5 and $9, they sold their burgers as sliders, meaning they were probably about a quarter of the size than normal. I would probably have to try them again to decide if I like them or not, but the ones we had at the festival weren’t worth the long wait. We did score, however, with our yummy sweet potato fries.
5. Sabor de Bahia
It took a little searching to find this one. Jen brought these back and we didn’t know what they were. Apparently, they were from Sabor de Bahia, a Brazilian catering company that specializes in food from the state of Bahia. These guys (above) are called acarajé, and they’re a falafel of sorts, characteristic of Nigerian and Brazilian cuisine. Acarajé are stuffed deep fried fritters, a little spicy and very flavorful.
6. Sweets Truck
Okay, so I didn’t eat this one, but Sam did. I think he had a couple “shooters”: a red velvet cupcake one and some sort of banana custard. Justin bought a cake/lollipop thing covered in milk chocolate. It looked yummy, but was too small to share, so we gave it to his sister. I just wanted an excuse to post this really cute picture of Crystal.
7. Fishlips Sushi
After retrieving our sweet potato fries, we went searching for Diana, who we found in the Fishlips Sushi truck line. She bought two crunchy rolls, which they made on the spot, in their truck. I actually didn’t get to eat this one either, but everyone else who tried it seemed like they liked it.
8. Dogzilla
Poor Linda had to wait about two hours in this line for these “Japanese style” hot dogs. I’m not really a hot dog fan myself, but adding avocado, nori, onions, bacon, teriyaki sauce, cheese, and furikake to the hot dogs, and wrapping them in King’s Hawaiian bread rolls made them pretty tasty.
9. Coolhaus
Diana was actually most excited about this truck. The Coolhaus truck was compact and super cute. Originally designed as architecturally-inspired ice cream sandwiches, they come with different ice cream flavors and cookie flavors, wrapped in an edible wrapper. I had chocolate cookies with refreshing lemon ice cream, but ended up ditching the cookies after my first few bites. Diana had brown butter and candied bacon ice cream with (I think) chocolate chip cookies (correct me if I’m wrong, Di).
10. Extras – empanadas, garlic fries, extra Coolhaus ice cream, fried chicken, Thai food
Basically, I don’t know where these came from, but Justin had a habit of going and bringing us back surprises. Like a huge case of canned IZZE drinks. Or this chicken empanada and garlic fries. The fries were really good, especially with the garlic sauce. Justin came back bearing a full plate of free quiche and cookies from Egg Monsieur. On top of all that, Justin also managed to sweet talk the Coolhauslady into giving Diana free, extra ice cream because she loved it so much, and scored a couple of lemon meringue lemon peel shots (which honestly tasted a little burnt).
Right before everything closed, I also got free fried chicken (it tasted strongly of rosemary and other spices) from the Mobi Munch truck. I’ll have to ask Sam for some of his photos; he let me try his chicken satay with spicy peanut sauce, and he also ordered green curry and some sort of fish dish. The Thai food truck took WAY too long though.
Overall, it was a good day. At least for my tummy.
“Things I WISH I had eaten” LIST:
- FrySmith: Raja fries (Fire-roasted poblano chiles, caramelized onions and shawarma-marinated steak with Jack cheese)
- Gastrobus: pulled pork and skirt steak sandwiches
- Buttermilk: EVERYTHING
- Flying Pig: braised pork belly bun, grilled beef short rib taco, spicy pork taco, tamarind duck taco, saba and parsnip fries with black garlic aioli (maybe that’s where the garlic fries came from?)
As Uncle George used to say, “But wait! There’s more!” Stay tuned for more on our food-filled day in Los Angeles.
