Lomo Arigato Food Truck

Lomo Arigato Peruvian-Japanese food truck. 



Somehow managed to never post anything about Lomo Arigato, now that I've eaten from his truck 3 times, I'd say now was as good a time as any.

On my first visit to them, I tried the Lomo Saltado, which is basically a stir fry of chicken (choice of tri-tip, chicken or tofu), onions, peppers (also cilantro, but I order it without) and french fries in a soy, pepper, wine sauce with a side of rice. Pretty tasty and savory although I felt the portion was a bit small (it was the first week). Hoping to see a bit more on the menu, definitely intrigued. The crew was really friendly and the food was definitely well prepared.

Tried the tallarin saltado again (pronounced tai-yarin (I think), I was told the two l's become a Y) and it was really good, again. That nice savory soy/wine sauce and the pan seared goodness is quite good. I still need to try the rice dish, but so far I like the tallarin the best. Something about the pasta and that sauce makes it very satisfying, it comes with a jalepeno cream sauce on the side, which really gives it a kick. Its similar to the lomo saltado, (the chicken, onion, tomato stir fry part) but with pasta instead of the fries and rice. Seems like each time I eat here, it just gets better and tastier. The portion was huge this time as well. The owner/crew are really nice and friendly, plus its fun to watch them make it. Flaming woks! Good experience every time. One of the things I've really grown to like about all the food trucks in general is the great attitude they always seem to have. Sounds like they'll be hitting Santa Monica soon as well. 
Follow Lomo Arigato on twitter here.

Santa Monica Gourmet Food Truck Lot ***SHUTDOWN***

OK, so there was zoning bullshit and the cops shut it down on the second day. The city of Santa Monica claims they didn't know about it till it was already done. The fact that they are food trucks and no specific laws/ordinances etc applies to them, the city does the wrong thing and shuts them down. There are people working on solutions, lots of emails and phone calls. All that info can be found thru the SMGFTL site. You can also follow them on twitter here.

The Santa Monica Gourmet Food Truck Lot

The Santa Monica Gourmet Food Truck Stop, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Finally, a place where most of the L.A. food trucks have a place to park with no hassles. The Santa Monica Gourmet Food Truck Stop located at 14th and Santa Monica. How cool is this? As Barbie's Q said, its a mobile food court. NBC news was out there all day. Only 4 trucks on the first day. India Jones, Border Grill, Barbie's Q and Fishlips. Here is the twitter link twitter.com/SMFoodtrucklot

Can't wait till tomorrow! Yah, food truck geek out. Whatever.

Asian Soul Kitchen

Asian Soul Kitchen, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Asian Soul Kitchen food truck.






The sampler, 2 entrees, rice and a side. Starting in the upper right, yakisoba noodles, black thai rice, lollipop chicken (southern fried drumetts) with tamarind glaze and spicy creamy mac and cheese. And it was all really really good!

Frysmith Truck

Frysmith fry truck for lunch. Had the Sweet Po fries, jidori chicken with a tomatillo-tamarind sauce over fresh cut sweet potato fries, topped with cheese and cashews. This was really good. Nice combination of flavors, little bit of the latin influence with the tomatillo, but a little south east Asia (hopefully my compass is pointing correctly ; )) with the tamarind and cashews. Savory, a little spicy in heat, the tamarind adds that nice citrus, a little tart, undertone and the sweet potato fries balanced it all. Sauce gets soaked up by some of the fries which tasted great. It was quite filling and just really good and satisfying.

thefrysmith.com/

The Veggie Grill

365 2.0/345, originally uploaded by LeandroF.

Would you believe this is fake chicken? Completely vegan chicken caesar salad and barley soup. The chicken tastes like chicken, its really good. Great texture, crispy and almost buttery.The dressing was nice and garlicy, good and creamy. No anchovies or egg. They also mix in quinoa into the salad itself for extra texture and protein. This is the second time I've had the barley soup, its really good. Full flavor and tofu that looks like beef. Comes with a side of season pita like chips that are pretty tasty. The service is great and the crew is really helpful and friendly.

www.veggiegrill.com/

Gastrobus

Tried the Gastrobus for lunch. Been wanting to try them out for a while now, but they don't get over to the West side much. They get all of their produce from the Los Feliz farmers market, which is all organic. Had the pulled pork sandwich with pickled onions, lettuce, and a little cilantro that I had to pick off, all on a Cuban roll. Very tasty sandwich. The pork was nice and tender, but not smokey or bbq like. Just good pork. The pickled onions were really great, added a little tanginess without overpowering the sandwich, but preserved some of that onion taste. Great bread as well. Really enjoyed it.