Thursday, October 7, 2010

Are You Ready for the Long Beach Street Food Fest – Saturday October 9

In less than two days, there will be 28-gourmet food trucks heading to Rainbow Lagoon for the Long Beach Street Food Fest. This will be the second edition of this event. The first happened back in July and was a huge success with over 3500 people attending. If you missed the photos from the last event click here to check them out.

"Grandma" from Slice Truck

Considering the gourmet food truck trend is still new to many people we wanted to take a little time to share what we have learned over the last several months. Hopefully one of these tips will help you enjoy so much more. We will also share with you our list of trucks we are looking forward to trying for the first time. There are even some that we have to eat from every time we see them!

Sweets from the Sweets Truck

Before we get to the suggestions please make sure you come by the Save the Food Trucks and Food Truck Tweet up booth between 11 and 2pm. (story here) There will be several food truck owners you can meet and speak with. Saturday Night Foodies and a few big time bloggers will be there as well. Come by and see us.

Ice Cream Sandwich from Cool Haus

Lets start off with the tips and tricks. Kim and I along with some others have worked this almost to a science. Here are some helpful tips to make your day more enjoyable.
  1. Be patient, for people that regularly visit food trucks. lines are part of the experience. Seriously, I have met a ton of great people while in line at food trucks. There is nothing better than sharing experiences and what foods each other liked and from where. This is how we figured out where to head first. In this case, lines are a good thing!
  2. Do some research. Figure out what trucks sound interesting to you. With 28 food trucks there is a lot to choose from. Here is the complete list of trucks.
  3. Get there early! This will help you get to some of the more popular trucks before the lines get long. The way someone told this to me was, come for breakfast stay for lunch.
  4. Some like to split up and conquer. I do that to a point. If you attend with friends and/or family send a couple of people in one direction, then you and with another person in the other direction. Meet-up, enjoy, relax then head out again. I use it as a time to just catch-up.
  5. Graze, meaning if you have split up to conquer, pick a couple of things at each stop so everyone can taste. This helps you not eat too much in one sitting so you can sample more. It makes it easier for everyone to experience the variety. If you find a truck you really like dive deeper or find them on the street at another date.
  6. It is a good idea to have cold hard cash. A limited number of trucks will accept credit cards so cash will be king!
  7. Bring your beach chairs or a blanket. 
  8. Make sure you stay hydrated.
  9. One of the most important rules of all for a great gourmet food truck experience is to be adventurous and try new things. With 28 trucks there is something for everyone and many more for people that are looking to try new things.
  10. Most important of all, Have Fun!

Special Brat from the Greasy Wiener


Now for the food, Kim and I have had the privilege to try many of the trucks out there. However we always find more and more! Here are two lists that may help you get started. I will tell you right now there are no trucks on this list that we have heard you need to stay away from. This is an awesome gathering of the best trucks in Southern California.

Craving to Try:

  • Nom Nom Truck (@nomnomtruck)
  • Manila Machine (@ManilaMachine)
  • Baby’s Badass Burgers (@BabysBBs)
  • Fresh Fries (@FreshFriesLA)

Time and time again:

  • Great Balls on Tires (@GreatballsOT)
  • Tropical Shave Ice (@TropShaveIce)
  • Slice Truck (@SliceTruck)
  • The Greasy Wiener (@TheGreasyWiener)
  • Sweets Truck (@TheSweetsTruck)
  • CoolHaus (@Coolhaus)
  • Crepes Bonaparte (@CrepesBonaparte)

I will stop there. If we add anymore it will be the entire list. I was serious when I said the showing is unreal!

If you see us please make sure you stop and say Hi!
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Save the Food Trucks & Food Truck Tweet-up Join Forces at Long Beach Street Food Fest - Saturday, October 9


As you know Save the Food Trucks is joining forces with Food Truck Tweet-up on October 9, 2010 at the Long Beach Street Food Festival. There will be a table setup for anyone that is interested in more information on the challenges and successes of the Gourmet Food Truck phenomenon. The meet-up will also be a great place for Twitter and Facebook fans to meet their tweeps face-to-face.

During the event there will be guest Gourmet Food Truck owner/operators on hand to answer questions, take pictures and meet their loyal fans. Here is partial list of the Gourmet Food Truck owner/operators that will be stoping by the table.

  • The Grilled Cheese Truck
  • The Greasy Wiener
  • Tropical Shave Ice 
  • Knock Out Taco Truck
  • Fresh Fries LA 
  • Slice Truck
  • Crepes Bonaparte
  • Great Balls on Tires
  • Manila Machine
  • Don Chow Tacos
  • Komodo Foods
  • Nana Queen
  • Ahn Joo
Kim and Jason from Saturday Night Foodies will be at the table as well along with some top bloggers in Souther California. Joining us will be Marian from Marian the Foodies and Chris from The Food Trucker.

They have also announced that special guest Matt Geller from the SoCal Mobile Food Vendors Association will be stopping by between 11:00 & 1:00. We recently met Matt looking forward to listen to be discuss all the things gourmet food trucks are doing. In addition you can learn about what the association does to help the community and the Gourmet Food Trucks.

Save The Food Trucks was launched to publicize the great things Gourmet Food Trucks do for the community, charities and redevelopment of downtown locations in cities across the country. Its also a place to call out the challenges that face food trucks from politicians, developers and private land owners. When you have a chance I strongly recommend you check out their site and see some of the letters people have submitted. There is a lot of good stuff going on.

Food Truck Tweet-up is simply a way for people with a love of Gourmet Food Trucks to get together and put a face to a tweet. The overall purpose is to help build a solid family oriented community of like minded Gourmet Food Trucks lovers. As you would expect we are big fans of Food Truck Tweet-up. It has been fun to meet people that enjoy the trucks as much as we do.

We are looking forward to seeing you Saturday!
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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Quick Post: Orange County DinDin-A-GoGo - Wednesday, October 6

UPDATED 3:49PM - Will be attending @DosChinos @ShortStopBBQ @TheLimeTruck @PiaggioonWheels

UPDATED 12:47PM - @TheLimeTruck will be at @AtomicBallroom for OCDinDinAGoGo. @LomoArigato and @SeabirdsTruck have so far cancelled. Watch here for more updates!

UPDATED 11:52AM - CANCELLED DUE TO WEATHER: Eric from Lomo Arigato posted a tweet at 11:21am that the evening event will be cancelled.  If something changes we will update.



Are you ready for some gourmet food truck grub?  Wednesday night DinDin-A-GoGo will be heading back to Atomic Ballroom in Irvine from 5:30 to 9pm.  Rick from Tropical Shave Ice has lined up 8 trucks for this week, including two trucks that will be heading down to the OC for the first time.


There was a great turnout last week at Atomic Ballroom.  It was very fun to see all of the people with their chairs and blankets hanging out and having a great time.  This week will be more of the same and we hope to see you there!

Love the Signs, and No We Did Not Make Them! 

Resident Trucks:
Tropical Shave Ice - Hawaiian Style Shave Ice Truck (@TropShaveIce)
Lomo Arigato - Peruvian and Japanese Fusion (@LomoArigato)
Piaggio On Wheels - Argentine Taco Truck (@PiaggioOnWheels)
Dos Chinos - Latin Asian Cuisine (@DosChinos)

The Lime Truck - California Beach Cuisine (@TheLimeTruck)

Special Guests:

Seabirds - Vegetarian Catering Truck (@SeabirdsTruck)
Mambo Juice Truck - Fresh Squeezed Juices (@MamboJuiceTruck)
The Place LA - Hot Pastrami (@ThePlaceLA)

Location:

17961 Sky Park Circle
Irvine, CA 92614
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Monday, October 4, 2010

LAST CHANCE: Win Tickets to the LB Street Food Fest - Oct 9


The Long Beach Junior Chamber of Commerce Charitable Foundation is organizing the Long Beach Street Food Fest on October 9th.  With ticket proceeds benefiting the Adopt-A-Teacher program and Long Beach City College Student Scholarships.  The event will host  28 of your favorite gourmet food trucks (such as @slicetruck, @crepesbonaparte, @thegreasywiener, @thesweetstruck, @grlldcheesetruk, etc.) and have live entertainment.  There will also be a beer and wine garden. 

We have two more sets of tickets to giveaway!! 

Contest details:  

There are a three ways to win:

1. Tell us in the comment section which trucks you are most excited to visit (1 entry).

2. Follow @satnightfoodies and @LBstreetfood (1 entry for each follow).

3.  After you follow, simply RT this link (1 entry). We've made it easier for you tweeters, all you have to do is copy and paste the following into twitter:

            I entered to win tickets to the @LBStreetFood Festival in Long Beach Oct 9th via @SatNightFoodies http://bit.ly/lbstreetfood3 RT to enter!

That means you can get a total of four entries!! 

Contest ends Wednesday, October 6 at 11:59pm PT and the winners will be announced on October 7.  Two lucky winners will win a pair of tickets.  Good luck and happy tweeting!

NOTE: The winner will have to present valid ID at the gate to pick up the wristbands

Event details:

Saturday, October 9, 2010 - 10:30am - 5:00pm
Rainbow Lagoon Park in Long Beach
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Whipping Up Some Frosted Goodness in the Windy City - Flirty Cupcakes – Chicago, IL

I had several business trips that took me to Chicago in September, so we looked for Gourmet Food Trucks and funky food joints that I could try while I was there. The Gourmet Food Truck movement has not taken off in Chicago like it has LA, NY and other metropolitan cities. However, I was able to find Flirty Cupcakes. Flirty Cakes, is the first gourmet food truck (actually it’s a van) to hit the streets of Chicago.


Since Jason and I are going to be guest judges for the Cupcake Camp Inland Empire competition, a fundraiser benefiting the Susan G. Komen foundation, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to “practice” my critiquing skills. (☺)

Thanks Jessica!

I began following @flirtycupcakes on twitter. They are really good about tweeting their daily schedule/times so you know exactly where they will be. When I approached Big Blue, what they lovingly call their cupcake delivery vehicle, I was greeted by Jessica, the driver. I was having a hard time deciding which cupcake to try so she suggested the mini sampler which would allow me to try a variety of their cupcake offerings. It included: Devil in Disguise – red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting, No Plain Jane – vanilla cupcake with Italian buttercream frosting, The Curious George – banana chocolate cupcake with a light salted caramel buttercream frosting and CBFF – chocolate cupcake with Nutella ganache frosting.


I’d like to think that I am pretty discerning when it comes to cupcakes, not too rushed in my judgments but I have to say these are probably the moistest cupcakes I’ve ever had! The frosting tastes like sweet, slow-churned butter that is whipped to an airy lightness with just a dash of sugar. The frosting has a subtleness that doesn’t overpower but enhances the cake, and you can really taste the butter or the cream cheese used in the frostings. It’s not the dry, crumbly thing that the cupcakes become when bakeries use too much confectioners’ sugar. The cakes are super moist, really rich, and surprisingly, not too sweet.


I had to go back to Chicago two weeks later so I decided to hit up Flirty Cupcakes again to make sure that the first experience wasn’t just a fluke. I touched down at Chicago O’hare and hadn’t been in the city one hour before I was at the Flirty Cupcakes van once again. They were sold out of the minis so I had to pick up the full-size cupcakes. Oh darn. I grabbed the banana chocolate, red velvet and one I hadn’t previously tried, the mocha chocolate cupcakes(?). I had the banana chocolate that day and the red velvet the next morning for breakfast. The third one, I decided to bring home so Jason could experience it. They were as delicious as I had remembered from my first visit, and still super moist. To further demonstrate, the third cupcake was purchased on a Tuesday and then traveled 1700 miles from Chicago to Orange County on an airplane, and eaten on Friday morning. It tasted the same as if it had been baked that day! How many cupcakes can you say that about?

They would be a great contender on the next season of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. But don’t just take my word for it, if you are ever in Chicago, I highly recommend you hit up Flirty Cupcakes.

Flirty Cupcakes on Urbanspoon
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