Thursday, June 30, 2011

LA Trip June2011 - Food Trucks!!

Since last time in LA I didn't have time to check out any food trucks, I made it my mission this past weekend to hit all the ones I wanted to try. Plus food truck just started popping up in Dallas lately so I wanted to have some comparison.

The first one (and main one) I wanted to try was the Nom Nom Truck. Ever since I watched The Great Food Truck Race on Food Network, I've been cheering for them. They really should've won. I still think the final challenge screwed them over.

Anyways, I was happy to discover that food trucks tend to park in groups. According to Twitter (which I signed up just to follow the food trucks...hahaha) a bunch of trucks were going to be at Westside Food Truck Central, this lot on Washington and Overland in Culver City. http://westsidefoodtruckcentral.com/
The trucks on Friday were Nom Nom, Twist Burger, OG Tempura, Danky's Doners, and the Boba Truck.

NOM NOM TRUCK
http://nomnomtruck.com/la/

Twitter: @nomnomtruck
Price: $

The Nom Nom Truck uses local ingredients and eco-friendly products. It's cooked to order so everything is hot and fresh. It was definitely the most popular truck. It was the only one that had a long line as well as a group of people waiting on their orders.

I was so excited. One of the girls that was on the Food Truck Race was taking the orders in the truck! For me, it's almost like meeting a celebrity. hehe. She was super nice. I told her that we were fans from Dallas and she threw in a taco on the house! :)

Grilled Pork Taco (2 corn tortillas with grilled pork topped with carrot/daikon, cucumbers, jalapenos and cilantro). Normally $2.50~ The pork had nice flavor and the veggies were light and fresh. However, I do not like corn tortillas at all. I've tried really hard to like them but there's just a flavor I really dislike. That's also a reason I don't like tamales or enchiladas.. :( But I do like tortilla chips. So without the tortilla, I thought it was good. haha.

The main thing I wanted to try was the Banh Mi (Vietnamese Sandwich). We got The Deli Special Banh Mi (12 inch Baguette with mayonnaise, Vietnamese headcheese, meatloaf, ham and pate topped with pickled carrot/daikon, cucumbers, jalapenos and cilantro) $7.50~ Pate is a savory traditional liver spread and I always like it in banh mi. I really enjoyed this. The baguette wasn't too hard so it was easy to eat. The bread had a nice crunch with the different types of meat inside and the crisp veggies. It was a tasty sandwich!

I liked it overall. I did think it was pricey for Vietnamese sandwiches though. If you go to a Vietnamese restaurant, banh mi's are usually less than $5. But I think its more about the experience and novelty of it all. Also the ingredients were high quality so it was still definitely worth trying. I also got a picture with the girl! Yay~

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We also wanted to try some of the other trucks. Twist Burger smelled so good so we got something from there too.

TWIST BURGERS TRUCK
http://www.thetwistburgers.com/

Twitter: @twistburger
Price: $

#1 The Classic Double Twist (grilled homemade Prime Angus beef patties served with your choice of bread, tomatoes and iceberg lettuce) $7~ We also added Gorgonzola cheese and Wild Mushrooms (oysters, Paris, Portobellow and Shiitake Mushrooms). It was also made to order so the burger was nice and hot w/ the cheese all melted. :) Unfortunately, they forgot the mushrooms.. boo. Oh well. The gorgonzola was a nice touch. Delish! The burger was good! The 2 beef patties were super juicy and tender and the lettuce/tomato was crisp and fresh. Not too shabby at all!


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Finally we stopped at the Boba Truck to get something sweet.

BOBA TRUCK
http://www.thebobatruck.com/

Twitter: @thebobatruck
Price: $

We got the BT! Original Milk Tea (large with mini boba) $4.25~ The flavor of the tea was good! Not as good as the ones in Taiwan but good enough. The mini bobas were cooked perfectly...just the right amount of chewy and sweetness. It was a nice ending to a great lunch!

I give it overall.
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We hunted down another truck the next day. :)

KOGI TRUCK
http://kogibbq.com/

Twitter: @kogibbq
Price: $

Kogi Korean BBQ To-Go has multiple trucks so it's much easier to find one close to us. This was one of the other trucks I really wanted to try.

My friend and I got a couple things to share...

#2 Combo - Any $5 item + 1 taco + 1 drink = $8~ We chose the Short Rib Burrito (beef, egg, kimchi, lettuce), Spicy Pork Taco, and a bottled water. Again, the taco was on 2 corn tortillas... bleh. But the filling was really good. I actually preferred the ingredients in this taco over the one from Nom Nom. The pork was really flavorful and I liked the mixed cabbage on top. There was also a nice spicy sauce. Bold flavors! The burrito was pretty awesome too. Lots of beef with egg, lettuce and kimchi. There were no beans and rice which was a nice change. It almost felt like a large breakfast burrito. YUM YUM YUM! For $5, we thought that was a really good deal cuz it was quite big.

I really wanted to get the Special: Loaded "Half Baked" Quesadilla (bacon, chinese broccoli, cheese, sour cream, habanero-basil salsa) $7~ I saw pictures of it on their website and also the description sounded soooo interesting. This was by far my favorite. The flavors were soo interesting! First of all, the habanero salsa is purple..and not spicy. It was more sweet and tart. Which paired with the quesadilla really well. I still don't know how the salsa is purple either... The bacon, chinese broccoli and cheese were a great combo. The sour cream added a coolness to it all. They just put a little too much on the quesadilla. But overall, amazing and so creative. I want it now as I think about it... drooool.... :P

I would say out of all the food trucks last weekend, this was my favorite!


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Finally, I wanted to check out Cool Haus Gourmet Ice Cream Sandwiches. I saw it being featured on one of the food shows and it looked so good. They make really interesting ice cream flavors and combinations, like fig and mascarpone or Cabernet or RootBeer Float! OMG. Sounds awesome.

COOL HAUS
http://eatcoolhaus.com/los-angeles/

Twitter: @coolhaus
Price: $

I saw on their website that they also sell them in the ice cream section of several Whole Foods locations so we first went to the one at 225 Lincoln Blvd. in Venice. That was more in our way so we decided to try there first.

Chocolate Chip Cookie + Candied Bacon Ice Cream $5~ The bacon ice cream was one of the ones I really wanted to try. I was a little nervous to buy it from the frozen section since the cookie is no longer fresh but I was pleasantly surprised. The cookie texture was still good and the ice cream was awesome. There were chunks of salty bacon in it and you get an essence of bacon in every bite. With the chocolate chip cookie it was delicious. I really wish our Whole Foods sold them...

We were able to hunt down the actual truck the last day in LA. After the awesome sandwich we got at Whole Foods, I was determined to try a fresh one.

The truck only offered a limited selection of cookies and ice cream so I wasn't able to try a lot of the ones on their full list of flavors... OH well... There were still some interesting flavor options.

The guy in the truck was really nice, and we were able to get samples! :)

We got the Potato Chip & Skor Bar Cookies with Guiness & Pretzel Ice Cream Sandwich $5~ I thought beer and potato chips..that's a good combo right? hehe. The guiness ice cream was really good. I wish there was more pretzel pieces though. The cookie was good but not as interesting as it sounds. I actually wanted the cookie to be a little saltier to add contrast to it all.

Maple Waffle with White Chocolate Cookies with Chocolate Molten Lava Cake Ice Cream Sandwich $5~ The lava cake ice cream had big chunks of cake in it. I really liked that. The cookie was good but I didn't really get the maple waffle flavor. There was also a weird flavor, I'm not sure if from the ice cream or the cookie but it reminded me of something served in a Japanese restaurant... maybe ginger? or some sort of spice? I still liked it.

The only thing was that on a sunny day, the ice cream melts wayyy too fast. It soon became a race to finish it as fast as we can before it got all over us. The ice cream melted all over our hands and the rush to eat it kept us from truly enjoying it.. :( I would actually recommend getting the one from Whole Foods! Because it's in the freezer section, it melts much slower and the flavors are still there so you are not missing anything.


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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

LA Trip June2011 - Umami Burger

After hearing many great things about Umami in LA, I knew I had to try it. We went the first night after we arrived in Los Angeles.

UMAMI (URBAN)
1520 Cahuenga Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 469-3100
http://umamiburger.com/

Price: $$

We went to this location because it opened a little later than some of the other locations. Plus it has a full bar. I think each Umami location offers slightly different menu items and the decor is also unique to one another.

It looked like a pretty trendy place. And at 10pm, it was still pretty packed. We got lucky and got a table right away.

We weren't even that hungry since we had a meal on the plane, but since we're here...might as well try some different things right?? :P

We got the special: Truffle Fries $6~
It's not on the menu, I saw it on a board outside the restaurant. It wasn't what I expected with the melted truffle cheese. I've had truffle fries elsewhere before and it was different. But this was good! The fries were nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The cheese on top wasn't too overwhelming and I could taste the truffle. I think the truffle flavor could've been a little stronger but it's ok. I also liked their ketchup...it seemed sweeter. Different than your normal Heinz or something. Yum!

My bf got the Umami Burger (Signature burger with Shiitake mushroom, parmesan crisp, roated tomato and ketchup) $10~ The burgers look neat and clean. Which I like. We would've liked some greens in the burger though. However, it was still pretty good. The meat was juicy and flavorful. The roasted tomato added some extra flavor than just a regular fresh sliced tomato. The parmesan crisp was the best part. It added that cheesy flavor and also the crunch that the burger needed. My bf said he's going to steal that next time he grills at home. hehe.

The Greenbird (shelton farms turkey, crushed avocado, green cheese, butter lettuce, sprouts, green goddess sauce) $11~ There was really lots of green on it! I really enjoyed it. The buns on the burgers were one of the best parts since they held the burger together really well. One thing I really hate is when the buns get soggy... The Greenbird was really fresh with all the veggies in it. It had the creaminess from the avocado and green goddess sauce. The sprouts and lettuce added freshness. The turkey patty itself might've been a tad dry on its own, but in a whole bite it was great!

The burgers weren't overly greasy or anything either which is good. I'm not a fan of those super greasy, fatty, oil dripping down your elbow type burgers. I know some people prefer that...which is cool. But I don't care for it. Umami was good for me... clean, fresh, quality ingredients. It didn't make me feel too heavy after.

And I've seen pictures of their desserts online so I already knew what I wanted to get!
Grasshopper Ice Cream Sandwich by "Milk" (Mint chocolate chip ice cream, macaron, chocolate dipped) $4.50~ The presentation was so cool. So simple and modern. I've never had an ice cream sandwich with macarons before. I think it's genius! The cookie had a crispy shell and chewy on the inside and added contrast to the creamy ice cream. The quality of the ice cream was really good too, as was the dark chocolate coating on the sandwich. My bf loves mint chocolate chip and he loved this. He says he prefers the macaron over regular cookies for the sandwich. (Milk also has it's own storefront in West Hollywood. If we had more time, I would've liked to check it out. I guess I'll have to wait until next time!)

It was a great start to our trip. Our waitress was super nice as well! It was a little pricey for burgers, but at least the quality was up there. I will definitely go back to Umami next time I'm in LA to try some other burgers!

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~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~

LA Trip - June 2011

I went to Los Angeles this past weekend just to hang out with some friends. And of course travelling means foooood!!! :)

Here are some random food pics for you to enjoy~

My bf has Executive Platinum staus for AA so we got hooked up in first class! Yea baby!!
We get food and drinks in first class..and it's gooood!

On the way to LAX:
Cheese Tortellini with Mushroom Sauce, Caesar Salad and Shrimp Cocktail Chicken with Rice Pilaf & Lima Beans, Caesar Salad, Shrimp Cocktail and Wheat Roll
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Brownie Cheesecake and Raspberry Sauce

On the way back to DFW:
Tortellini (in tomato sauce and melted cheese; served with side salad and shrimp cocktail)
Chipotle Chicken (with a citrus sauce, Rice Pilaf, and Veggies; served with side salad and shrimp cocktail)
Brownie with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Also, I got a BIG treat while I was there. A friend of mine invited a group of us over to celebrate on of my friend's birthday. He wanted to cook for us. I went in thinking it would be like potluck-ish style, casual dinner, etc. But nooo...apparently he's some MASTER CHEF in the making! It was soo amazing! I'm so honored that I got to try his food.

We started with Scallops 3 Ways:
Scallop on Avocado and Tortilla with Chimichurri Sauce
Scallop with Mango Salsa
Bacon Wrapped Scallop with Honey Garlic Aioli
OMG! Loved the colors and presentation (minus the plastic plates..hehe). I'm allergic to mango so I had to skip that one. :( But the other 2 were FANTASTIC! The chimichurri sauce had heat from the garlic and was so nice against the tender scallop and creamy avocado. The tortilla added the crunchy element. YUM! And bacon wrapped scallops? Who doesn't like bacon?!?! Delish. Loved the aioli...it was perfect.

Next was Tuna Tartare with Avocado. Fresh, large chunks of tuna paired with the creamy avocado. The marinade for the tuna was really flavorful. Not a dull dish at all!

Lastly, the entree was a Roast Pork with Basil Pesto Spaghetti. This was my favorite of the night, although I loved everything else. The pork was cooked perfectly with just the right bit of fat along the sides. The spaghetti was al dente...perfect! And the basil pesto just brought everything together. The colors were so pretty as well.

OMG. YUMMERS! If he ever decides to open up a restaurant, I'll definitely be there!

Afterwards we had cake for my friend's birthday. This was purchased from an Asian bakery. Taro Napoleon. I don't like taro but I said I would try it. It's basically layers of soft pillowy cake with cream and kind of a taro mousse and then a layer of crispy goodness. It was awesome. The crispy layer is what makes it so interesting. Plus it's not too sweet and light so doesn't weigh you down at all!

Stay tuned for all the other places I ate at!! :)

~~ CHOMP CHOMP ~~