The Food Truck Craze
By now, I'm sure you all have heard about the food truck craze taking L.A. by storm. Food trucks aren't really that new. I've enjoyed eating food from trucks for some time, though none of the ones I went to seem nearly as fancy as what has been rolling out lately. I haven't really gone chasing after any of these newer trucks, as I just don't know where they will be! Sure, I could follow them on twitter, but which one and when do I check to find out where they will be? Do I really want to go drive all over town to follow a truck around for some food? Well, I probably wasn't the only one who felt this way because last week, Gateway to Go launched.
Gateway to Go is an event held every Tuesday from 11am to 3pm where various food trucks will show up at one central location, the parking lot of the Crowne Plaza Hotel (5985 W. Century Blvd, Los Angeles, 90045). The food trucks that will be there will be rotated regularly. A link to the schedule can be found at the end of this post. A portion of the proceeds goes to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I went to experience Gateway to Go for myself earlier today, and I loved it! It was so convenient. There were six trucks to choose from today: Eat Phamish, Crepe N' Around, Frysmith, Greasy Weiner, Grilled Cheese Truck, and India Jones.
The food wasn't all cheap, but everything was definitely affordable. I enjoyed a huge bowl of pho tai ($8) from Eat Phamish and a banana nutella crepe ($4) from Crepe N' Around. One of my pet peeves about pho tai is when restaurants do not use rare thin slices of beef. Eat Phamish used cooked beef, but I think there are health code laws that restricted them from using rare beef. If I overlook this, then the pho was just fine. Eat Phamish also serves baguettes and spring rolls, both of which looked excellent. One of my friends ordered the chicken lemongrass baguette and enjoyed it. I got to try half a pork spring roll, and I can recommend that without any reservation. The crepe was deceivingly small. I saw other people walking away from the truck with a little paper tray of a triangular crepe. The reason why it looks small, as I learned, is because it gets folded many, many times. It's a standard full size crepe, maybe around 12-14" in diameter. The sweet crepes are $4, but the savory ones are $6. One of the more popular crepes was the maple pork. One of my friends ordered it and said it was quite good. We also tried some kimchi fries from Frysmith. The kimchi fries was surprisingly not bad. This was an order of fries topped with kimchi, a bit of pork, and cheese. The pork added some sweetness to the flavor while the kimchi added a bit of spiciness. My friends and I wanted to try the mac n' cheese sandwich over at the Grilled Cheese Truck, but our stomachs just couldn't handle it. We were already delightfully full.
Depending on which truck you order from and what you order, it might take a while to get your food. Still, it's all relatively quick. I was keeping a watchful eye on the time, as I parked in a two-hour limit area, and after eating all that food, I thought I would need to run off to move my car. I was surprised that only an hour had passed. That leads to my next piece of advice - the trucks are actually in the back lot of the Crowne Royal, so it's easier to enter from 98th Street instead of Century. There is also some two-hour street parking available on 98th Street so you don't need to pay to park in one of the nearby, overpriced lots. There are tables and chairs available so you can choose to eat there, which is a great way to meet people. My friends and I got to chat with a few interesting people and enjoyed their company. We also saw many people eating on the grassy area for a little picnic, some girls dancing to the steel drum performance when they weren't eating on the curb, and busy professionals who just bought their food and left the area. No matter what type of diner you are, stopping by Gateway to Go beats chasing after these food trucks on your own.
Gateway to Go - no website for this program yet
5985 W Century Blvd (back lot facing 98th St)
Los Angeles, CA 90045
Schedule of Food Trucks
For anyone who missed today's Gateway to Go and can't wait until next Tuesday for some food truck food, check out Cart for a Cause's event tomorrow. Tomorrow from 12pm to 2pm, they will be serving up French Dip and Quiche Lorraine from Comme Ca.