Hoangies food truck

Oct 252012
 

There are several food trucks that stop by my workplace for lunch – pretty much a different one everyday. However, I haven’t actually tried many of them because I usually bring my own lunch. Last week, though, I had the chance to try out one of my lab’s favorite trucks – Hoangie, the banh mi food truck.

The truck had a super cute “Banh mi on wheels” cartoon. They also posted photos of the menu items, which I always appreciate. You can also view their online menu here.

The different sandwiches had very cute names, such as Hoangie Moo (marinated pepper steak), Hoangie Doodle-do (garlic marinated chicken breast), Hoangie Oink (sweet marinated pork shoulder), etc. I chose the Hoangie Oink with a fried egg ($1 extra for the egg).

Hoangie Oink with fried egg ($9)

The sandwich was pretty big – more than enough for a meal for me (although I ate the whole thing anyway…). The baguette was slathered with an aioli + French butter mix, which was amazing. Veggies included cucumbers, pickled carrots and daikon radish, sliced jalapenos, and cilantro – all very fresh and added a nice crunch to the sandwich. The meat wasn’t like any grilled pork I’ve had in bahn mi – it was more of a sweet-marinated pulled pork. It was really delicious, though, and went well with all the toppings, in particular the perfect fried egg.

This, along with Tabe BBQ and Mr. Pig’s BBQ, definitely served one of my favorite food truck meals in San Diego so far. In fact, strangely enough, the pork in Hoangie’s banh mi and Tabe’s burritos taste very similar – my labmates also concurred with me, so maybe we just like the sweet-marinated Asian-style pulled pork. Haha. The only thing I’d pick a bone about is the price tag. While $8 is typical food truck price, it’s pretty expensive for a banh mi, especially compared to the $3 price tag on the banh mi at K Sandwiches. I do understand that Hoangie is trying to use better ingredients, so maybe the comparison doesn’t hold. Still, though, I rarely shell out $10 for lunch, so this might be an occasional treat for me.

Hoangies – Banh Mi on Wheels
Schedule on website
http://www.hoangiesfoodtruck.com/index.html

[SD Food Truck] Amazing Korean-Mexican fusion from Tabe BBQ

Jun 302012
 

There are quite a few food trucks that stop by my workplace, but I haven’t had a chance to try many of them.  My labmates have actually tried most of them, and they always get so excited when Tabe BBQ truck is around that I had to go and check it out for myself.

But of course I forgot to grab my camera so all of these photos are taken with my phone.

Gorgeous day, delicious food!

The menu is not very descriptive – I didn’t know what the OMG or 7th Heaven Burritos or the Rainbow Salad contained.  But my labmate recommended to just go with the Cali Style Burrito.

The food actually arrived pretty quickly, compared to some of my other food truck experiences.  As I sort of expected, the burrito was huge.

Cali Style Burrito with Korean spicy pork, $7

You can’t tell from the photo, but it’s pretty ginormous.  I ate about half before I gave up to the feeling of being stuffed.

But really, size doesn’t matter nearly as much as taste.  And this was an awesome-tasting burrito.  The spicy pork isn’t the thinly-sliced bulgogi that you usually see at Korean restaurants; I’d call it more like…carnitas-with-bulgogi-seasoning.  Haha.  Along with the meat, there’s 5-spice fries, ponzu salsa fresca, lettuce, cheese, and sour cream – whew!  It was definitely flavor-packed.  I do think the pork and 5-spice were so strong that they overwhelmed everything else, since I didn’t even realize that the salsa fresca was seasoned with ponzu.

Cali Style Burrito with sauces

Three types of salsas/sauces are available: spicy mayo, salsa roja, and Sriracha.  Not that you needed any more flavor in the burrito, but you know, just in case you wanted some extra heat.

The bottom line?  If you see this truck, go!!  Flag it down, run like a maniac, do whatever it takes to get yourself one of these delicious fusion burritos!  (They also have a take-out location.)

Tabe BBQ
3690 Murphy Canyon Road, San Diego, CA.
(858) 279-0040

http://www.tabebbq.com/index.html

[SD Mobile] We try six different rolls at SD Sushi Ninjas

Apr 292012
 

Ever since OnlyBurger made its debut on my college campus in North Carolina, I’ve been sort of fascinated with food trucks.  Now, of course, they’re the new “in” – there are food trucks out there for pretty much everything, from Southern barbecue to Thai food.  When I lived in Berkeley, one of my favorite events was the weekly food truck gathering, Off the Grid, just a short walk from my apartment.

Since I’ve moved to San Diego, I actually haven’t explored the mobile food scene much.  Recently, I heard about a sushi truck that stops near where I live for dinner, so SK and I decided to try it out.

They have a happy hour, 4-6pm, during which rolls are Buy 2 Get 1 Free.  SK bought six rolls.  Yes, six.  For the two of us.

We’re gluttonous.  Absolutely.

(I included the full menu descriptions for everything, since the names are too creative for you to know what in the world was in the rolls.)

Top left: Scallop Delight (baked roll; spicy crab & avocado inside, topped with scallops & chipotle mayo, eel sauce, green onions, and white onions), $8
Top right: Sake Bomb (spicy crab, avocado, gobo, & cucumber inside, topped with salmon, red onions, and basil mayo), $7
Bottom: Afro Ninja (fried roll; spicy tuna, spicy crab, jalapeno, cream cheese, & avocado inside, topped with eel sauce and spicy mayo), $7

Top left: Serrano-Hamachi (spicy tuna, cucumber, chives inside, topped with yellowtail, Serrano peppers, & cilantro aioli), $9
Top right: "Sal"antro (spicy tuna, cucumber, & gobo inside, topped with salmon, spicy mayo, chili sauce, & fresh cilantro), $8
Bottom right: Crispy Albacore (spicy crab, shrimp tempura, avocado inside, topped with albacore, crispy onions, garlic chips, & garlic ponzu), $7

As you can see from the descriptions, these rolls are pretty Americanized.  My favorite was probably the Scallop Delight, although I wish it didn’t have so much raw onion – the taste was way too strong.  Second fave is probably the Serrano-Hamachi, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise to you since I love spicy food so much.  Overall, though, I thought that they were all very heavy – the rolls were pretty much doused in spicy mayo/ eel sauce.  Basically, no way they could compete with Sushi Diner.

But, the location of the food truck is pretty close to my home, and they even deliver within the area – and all deliveries are actually happy hour pricing, so it’s convenient.  I might be willing to give this a second try, making a mental note that I’ll ask them to go easy on the sauce.

Have you ever tried SD Sushi Ninjas?  What is your favorite food truck in San Diego? Let me know in a comment~!

Off the Grid, Berkeley

Aug 112011
 

 

 

 

My stepfather, who was in the Bay Area for a conference, came to Berkeley to have dinner with me. We were wondering why there were so many people walking towards the CVS Pharmacy (corner of Shattuck & Rose) when we realized that it was the Bay Area food truck gathering, Off the Grid! As we are both food-lovers, we knew that we had to give this a try.

 

There were about 10 trucks or so, and the lines were ridiculously long at most of them. I forgot to take note of all the trucks that were there, but there were a few taco trucks, a sandwich truck or two, a couple of dessert trucks, and some  that I categorize as ‘gourmet food on wheels.’ The lines at most of the trucks were ridiculously long.

 

 

Top: The line for Streatery. Bottom: People sitting in the median/ lawn chairs, enjoying the food.

 

It took us a while to decide what we wanted to try. Finally, we chose Streatery, which served ‘peasant food’, and Liba Fafalel. At Streatery, I was deciding between the pulled pork sandwich or the braised oxtail over grits. My stepdad said, ‘How many times are you going to find a food truck serving oxtail?’ He was right, so oxtail & grits it was. Everyone also seemed to be ordering these root kettle chips, so we also ordered one of those.

Braised oxtail & grits, $9. House-made root kettle chips, $2

The braised oxtail was delicious. As in,  melts-in-your-mouth-it’s-so-tender delicious. Very flavorful without being overwhelming. I also loved the carrots and daikon on the side, cooked just enough to be soft, not mushy. The grits were creamy – a bit too creamy for my liking, actually. All the sauce from the oxtail, combined with the cream and butter made the grits too heavy. I liked the crunchy, thinly cut kettle chips a lot, although to be honest, they weren’t all that special. Perhaps because they didn’t go to well with the oxtail dish?

Moving on to the falafel truck. My stepdad already loves falafel, but his eyes really lit up when we saw the self-serve toppings bar. Roasted eggplant, red cabbage, cucumber salad, pickled onions, feta cheese, tomato ginger chutney, hummus, yogurt raita, rosemary peanuts (a MUST-try).. all house-made, all delicious.

 Regular falafel (in pita bread), $8

Falafels + toppings

We may have overdone it slightly with the toppings. Nonetheless, it was an awesome falafel sandwich. I would line up for this again any day.

Finally, I stopped by Cupkates to get my dessert fix. Unfortunately for you, my dear readers, I gobbled down my delicious S’mores cupcake before I remembered to take a photo :P

Anyway, Off the Grid was a lot of fun. I am really glad that I came across it, and I am even happier to discover that they will be at Berkeley every Wednesday evening! The big food truck gathering (probably three times the size of this) is in Fort Mason on Friday nights – I’d really love to go sometime. (Let me know if you are interested!)

Streatery
Website
Twitter

Liba
Website
Twitter

Cupkates
Website
Twitter

Veggie burger adventure?!

Jul 282009
 

Went to OnlyBurger’s truck today to discover that they were out of hamburger patties! Well, since I’d already walked all the way over (and since I still love their fries), I decided to try their veggie burger. I’ve never had a veggie burger before, so I don’t have much basis for comparison, but I can tell you that their veggie burger is equally delicious as their regular burger. The patty was juicy and tender, and it was a refreshing break from, well, meat (never thought I’d say that in my life).

So next time, if they run out of hamburgers, don’t just walk away from the truck – order yourself a veggie burger. Or don’t wait till they run out of burgers to do it – just order one anyway. Seriously. Just do it.

OnlyBurger

Jul 182009
 

I’ve had OnlyBurger once during the school year, but I didn’t remember much about it and wanted to try it again. So when my friend told me that over the summer, they stop right down the street from where I work, I was super excited and hoped that they would make a stop there soon.
Basically, OnlyBurger is a burger truck, and it makes stops around the RTP area during lunch and dinner times. You follow them on their website or Twitter to find out where they will be. Its menu is simple: single, double, single combo, and double combo – which include fries or chips and a drink. You can add lettuce, tomato, onions, ketchup, mustard, mayo, cheese, and pickles to your burger.
OnlyBurger’s truck
I got a single combo with chips (because I thought they had homemade kettle chips), but I was mistaken – I got a bag of Sunchips instead. My friend was smarter and ordered fries, which were very crispy and delicious. It also turned out to be a huge bag, so I got to munch on quite a few of them =9
Huge bag of crispy fries.
The burger itself is wonderful. It’s very juicy, and the burger bun is also toasted with butter and grilled along with the patty, which means it has extra flavor. I added ketchup to my burger, but honestly, even without any condiments, the burger is juicy enough. It’s really one of the best burgers I’ve had, and probably the only burger I’ll want for a while.
My burger with lettuce, tomato, onions, ketchup, and pickles.
Truck: OnlyBurger
Price Range: $5-$10 (check their prices on the website)
- Definitely follow them on Twitter or check their site to find out if they’re ever near you. And if they are, go and get yourself a burger and fries!

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