More Tastes from LA in the OC - @pattywagonLA

You would think with all of the food trucks we have been visiting that we would start getting sick of them a bit. However that is not the case. After a long day in the sun on Saturday we had to run down to Bootlegger’s Brewery in Fullerton to check out the latest gourmet food truck coming down from LA.

We were very happy to see it was the Patty Wagon. I have heard very good things from a number of people so we had to check them out for ourselves. Their claim to fame is their 100% grass fed meat for their hamburgers. Actually I hear about their fries a lot but I am jumping ahead. They also take pride in the locally grown veggies they use with their burgers.

One thing I want to get out of the way is if you do not eat red meat then there is not a lot available for you. This is the only truck that I have seen so far that does not have any alternatives. The fries are about it. Now that I said that, if you do enjoy red meat then you are really going to like this truck. I was lucky that on this occasion we had Kim’s brother with us. Instead of trying only 2 or 3 of their sliders I was able to sample 5 of them! It was almost like winning the lottery.

"Mood Indigo"

First off was the "Mood Indigo", this one had blue cheese, caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, bacon and all on toasted ciabatta. This one turned out to be the perfect start. To be honest I thought it was going to go downhill from here but I was wrong. The burgers in all cases were cooked perfect. Nice and juicy with great flavors.

“I Get a Kick Out of You”

Second was their “I Get a Kick Out of You”, which has roasted jalapenos, provolone, pancetta and a touch of mayo on a toasted roll. To start off these were not your canned sliced jalapenos you get in a jar. These tasted like they were roasted that day. Add to that the crispy pancetta and this was an action packed slider.

“Keep Your Sunny Side Up”

Then it was onto the “Keep Your Sunny Side Up”. This slider was topped with their homemade gremolata (lemon, garlic, parsley butter). Simple yet delicious. The butter was a nice compliment and did not over power the burger.

“You’re My Everything”

Next was the “You’re My Everything”. It was topped with sautéed sweet peppers, onions and garlic with Swiss cheese on a toasted roll. Once again bit on flavor. One thing that was very nice was the burgers did not all taste the same. Each one had a flavor profile all it’s own.

“La Vie En Rose”

Finally it was onto their special of the day, “La Vie En Rose” which had melted gruyere cheese and onions caramelized with thyme and vermouth. Unreal! I was glad I had this last. This slider had a ton of complex flavors. The onions with the creaminess of the cheese were amazing! I wonder if they have this often. If they don't then they should!

Hand Cut Rosemary Garlic Fries

I do not want to forget the hand cut Rosemary Garlic fries, which were very good as well. These were not overly seasoned and very crispy. The sliders are the stars of the show but the fries rocked it!


If you like red meat and have a chance to try them out, do it! You will not be disappointed.

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Food Truck with Visionary Cuisine - @VizziTruck at @bootleggersbrew - Fullerton, CA

Thanks to the people at Bootlegger's Brewery we did not have to drive far to check out another LA gourmet food truck. In a pervious article we talked about how breweries are teaming up with food trucks make the perfect dinner out. I am still very much liking this new trend (or I hope it becomes more of a trend).

Vizzi Truck is a very fun food truck that is usually in the LA area. They are known for mixing cooking styles from California, Oregon and the Philippines. However it does not stop there. From what we could tell they take big flavors very seriously! The truck itself is also worth mentioning because it is a touch different. It has a couple of big 32" TVs, big speakers, and a screen showcases photos of their awesome food. It was very cool to walk up to a food truck and watch the Laker game while we figured out what we wanted to eat.

Soup of Pan Roasted Butternut Squash

Their menu had a nice selection and as always we had to try a few things. First off was their soup of pan roasted butternut squash. This is a weakness of mine! I usually have to try butternut squash soup if i see it on the menu. This version was very good. It was a bit different than the one I make which was an added bonus. It may be because they also have carrots and maple sugar in theirs. You can also taste the cumin and chilies. The dolup of cream on top was a nice touch. I made need to add that to my recipe.

Black Skillet Jidori Chicken Slider

Sliders with Pimento Spiced-Yakima Salt Popcorn

Then it was onto their Black Skillet Jidori chicken sliders. These were not too fancy but very good. First off, the way they were served was unique. Their sliders come laid out on top of a bunch of pimento spiced-yakima salt popcorn. Not only did it look great it was a very tasty garnish. Bonus! The chicken is garlic marinated but the garlic was not overpowering at all. The sliders were topped with some chimichurri sauce and served on a grilled hawaiian role.

Organic Chickpea Sliders

Now the star of this show. Last we had their organic chickpea sliders. WOW! This is a formed vegetarian cutlet served on hawaiian role with a creme-fraiche chimichurri sauce. It also came with popcorn. These were amazing. They are very good as come but if you want to add a little flare make sure you try one with the sriracha sauce that they have available. Gives it a nice heat that I think makes them almost perfect.


I also want to mention the gentleman that helped us in the truck was very friendly! It is amazing how much nicer the experience is when the people you talk to look and act like they are happy to be there and are proud of what they do. These guys should be proud!  I highly recommend the @vizzitruck!


Once again this was at Bootlegger's Brewery so you have to grab something while you are there if not just stop in for their beer. This time I ordered a Blackberry sour. I wanted something a little different and this was perfect for that. You could taste the blackberry but it was not too much and the sourness was perfect. I have not had anything like that before but I will try that again. I would guess they have about twenty beers on tap right now so you should stop in if you are into beer.


Sometimes people give me a hard time because I have not had much bad stuff to say about anyone. This is another food adventure where it was right on the money. Maybe that is why we are having so much fun checking out all of these trucks and restaurants and sharing what we find with you!

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Pub Crawl or is it a Gourmet Truck Crawl? - @ComfortTruck, @FrySmith, @bootleggersbrew & @TheBruery

Last Saturday was a good food adventure day. We started out by going to Charlie’s Chili in Newport Beach for breakfast. Then it was watching all of our Twitter & Facebook peeps talking about visiting the 15 gourmet food trucks that were at the California Democratic Convention at LA Live. Unfortunately we were not able to make it to that event. To be honest we thought it would be a nightmare. Turns out we were wrong. We enjoyed all of the tweets about the great food.

As you would expect we were a bit jealous. I spent some time combing through Twitter and the Mobile Cravings website to find if there was be chance any nearby trucks that we could go check out. Turns out that there were two “LA” trucks making their way down to the OC.

First was the Comfort Truck, which was being hosted by Bootleggers Brew. The Comfort Truck is a truck that is based in LA and one of the many trucks that are on my list to check out. This is an older truck that looks to have been refurbished and it has what looks to be a very expensive paint job. You cannot miss it going down the street. The have a small menu as most trucks do but the focus here is on good comfort food. I have to say they nailed that!

They offer a variety of sliders, mostly chicken that I thought was very cool. They also had a corn salsa with seasoned flour tortilla chips they call “Crack”. That was a good name for them! We tasted three different sliders and the “crack”. Their main attraction is the Golden Fried Chicken Slider that was just killer. This one is a boneless breast that is marinated then fried. It is served with a roasted garlic aioli that is the perfect compliment. You have to get this one for sure. We also had the Sautéed Spicy Chicken Slider and the Jerk Beef Slider. These were both spot on as well. We were both super happy with the food.

Golden Fried Chicken Slides

Sautéed Spicy Chicken and Jerk Beef Sliders

Comfort Truck "Crack" with Bootlegger's Hefeweizen and Rustic Rye

The only downside was they were not as friendly as I am used to when visiting a gourmet food truck. Not rude or anything but just a little off. Now on the other hand they have been very friendly on Twitter. So I do not think this was normal for them. When is all said and done you have to check these guys out! I know we will be visiting them again soon.

Bootlegger's Brewery

In addition to great food we were at Bootlegger's Brewery, which we had never heard of before. There were a lot of people hanging out which was nice to see. We tried a couple of their beers and they were very good as well. It was very interesting to see what looks like a growing trend where breweries invite in gourmet food trucks and together leveraging social media bring a crowd together. I think it is a very good idea. One offers good food that can be changed on a weekly basis and the other offers good booze. That is a winning combination. I am hoping to see more of this in the future. After talking to the owner at Bootleggers it seems it was working out well. They have had a number of different trucks from the OC and LA.



The second stop that night was @FrySmith which was at a different brewery call The Bruery. How is that, two breweries in Orange County bringing in inviting gourmet food trucks from LA. This stop we did not try the beer, sorry @TheBruery. We will check them out next time. They had a good crowd as well so I am sure it was good. FrySmith has one of the coolest trucks I have seen. The funny part is when we got there it looked like an old funky truck from a distance. I was so wrong! Big windows so you can see what is going on. There is a lot of cooking area and along with lots of stainless steel. It looks like it is a converted truck of some sort. It was fun to watch them work.

We ordered their Chicken Sweet Potato and their special, which was a Poutine. The Poutine has Ballard Family Farms cheese curds and porcini gravy on fries. This was awesome. The cheese curds had a wonderful texture and flavor. They were generous with the curds, gravy and fries. The porcini gravy had a great mushroom flavor and pulled the whole thing together. We both liked this one a lot.

Poutine - Cheese Curds with Procini Gravy Fries

Neither of us are huge sweet potato fries fans but the Chicken Sweet Potato fries are their most popular item. The chicken is done with a tomatillo- tamarind sauce and topped with shredded cheese and chopped cashews. We were split on the chicken, I really liked it by itself but Kim was not so sure. I think it has to do with the odd combination. When you see the nuts with the shredded chicken you almost think you are going to have a more Thai influenced flavor and that was not the case. The one thing that seemed different to me on this dish was the fact that there was no sauce so the flavors did not seem to blend well together. So the jury is still out on this one. Many people rave about this combination. The sweet potato fries may have been our downfall.

Chicken Sweet Potato Fries

They also have cookies on special. This night they had two different ones. First was the Chili Chocolate with chocolate chunks and pecans. The cookie was soft and chewy with big chocolate chunks. The chili was a very nice touch. It kind of hits you after the fact. Not hot but you know it is there.

Chili Chocolate Cookie

The second cookie was the Cherry Chunk with chocolate chunks. This was perfect as well. It was soft and chewy with lots of cherries. Both cookies were awesome. You have to be sure to get to them early, as they seem to sell out fast!

Cherry Chunk Cookie

Overall the @FrySmith was good. We will go back. However I am a little concerned about how often they will have repeat customers. They have a pretty small menu. The menu has big flavors and I am looking forward to checking out their Kim chi fries. I am sure they will do well but in the long run it would be nice to see a little more. I am only saying this because it was a fun truck; they were very friendly both in person and on Twitter. Besides they do good work. I want to see them around for a long time!

It turned out to be a good night. I am really liking what I hope is a growing trend. Libations and road food, who can ask for more.

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