Food Truck Events – OC Food Truck Meet

Words by Gilbert Chen for itsjdmyo.com

The OC Food Truck Meet was pretty happening with well over 300 cars showing up along with at least 100 motorcycle/scooter riders.

Justin Fong rolled by with his wide-body civic.

The lovely Chaba and Amy Fay were also there to attend the food truck event.

Big Mike doing the Johnny Walker striding man pose.

Saw a couple of nice cars come out to join the madness of waiting in loooong lines for food:

The line for Dogzilla even spanned to be about 2 hours.

I took the opportunity to sample some food from some of trucks.

BaconMania

Bacon Ball Trio & Piggy Back

The Bacon Ball Trio – 3 Bacon balls — 1 filled with Mac and Cheese, 1 filled with Filet Mignon and Bleu Cheese and 1 filled with Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich
Among the 3 different flavors, the Peanut Butter and Jelly one stands out the most as the most delicious.  It is similar to a Monte Cristo Sandwich where you get Savory flavors combined with Sweet flavors.  Personally I would’ve preferred to just have 3 of those than the other varieties.  The Mac and Cheese filled one would come in second in terms of flavors and taste.  Unfortunately the Filet Mignon wrapped in bacon does not go well with Bleu Cheese, unless you are one of those people who loves bleu cheese, you may not enjoy this one as much.

The Piggy back – Pulled Pork Slider with Bacon and specialty bacon sauce.
All in all, your typical pulled pork slider.  I enjoyed this one a bit but was overcome with the feeling I wanted something to wash it all down with a soda or something.  Personally, like I mentioned earlier, stick with the peanut butter and jelly sandwich wrapped with bacon.  It was the most enjoyable thing I had from this truck.

Price: 4/5
Wait Time: 1/5 (My friend and I nearly waited 90 minutes to get our food from our time of order.  I guess it’s good that the food is prepared to order, but that took way too long)
Presentation: 4/5
Taste: 4/5

Dogzilla

Furikake Dog

Spicy Hot Dog covered with Seaweed, Japanese style Mayonnaise, furikake seasonings, grilled onions on a bed of Hawaiian sweet rolls
This was definitely something amazing.  I had heard all the hype about Dogzilla’s hot dogs and they definitely do meet your expectations.  I actually had recently had the opportunity to finally sample all the hot dogs they provide, but I will focus on this one.  The slightly spicy taste of the hot dog combined with the sweetness of the japanese style mayo is a good combination and it is further unified with the savory and salty flavors of the Furikake seasonings and the grilled onions.  If I could I would try to eat 3 of them but that wouldn’t leave me much stomach room to try anything else at these events.  I am definitely a fan of Dogzilla’s Hot Dogs.

Price: 5/5
Wait Time: 4/5 (When there’s nobody in line, the food comes out really fast, but this was a special event and the line was up to 2 hours long for some people.)
Presentation: 5/5
Taste: 5/5

Food Truckin’ Yo!!! – DinDin-A-GoGo — Los Alamitos Edition

So once again, I find myself lining up in the cold, this time near Los Alamitos Racetrack for another edition of Din Din A Go Go.  There were fewer trucks this time around but probably because everyone is prepping for the new years, with new recipes, new specials and probably just new ideas in general.  I found our friend the Tropical Shaved Ice Truck and also Vizzi Truck that Tony along with a few new ones like Lee’s Gogi Truck and Chomp Chomp Nation.

For the first timers, the address is located at 11081 Winners Circle, Los Alamitos CA, 90720.

Lee’s Philly Gogi Truck

Their Menu

Gogi Beef and Spicy Chicken Tacos

As with the tradition of the food trucks, they have freshly prepared tacos.  Meat, Kimchi, Sauce, Cheese and Tortillas.

Review:  The spicy chicken was something I was particularly interested, more-so than the beef, because from what I could tell, the beef is a sweet soy marinated beef that most asian foodies will experience so I wanted to see what the twist on the chicken would be.  In actuality, the chicken wasn’t too spicy at all.  It just has a slight spicy bite that I suspect might have been from the kimchi instead.  Although, the plus side to the taco is that they are so massive that you are almost guaranteed to have “taco run-off” where the filling falls in the tray the second you pick it up.  All in all, not a bad buy because of the price and how big these tacos actually are.  The Gogi Beef taco was what you might expect, a sweet and savory taco that is easy on the mouth.  The beef is the thin sliced beef you would typically find in Shabu Shabu or hot pot and full of flavor as well.  The cheese in the taco kind of takes the edge off the overpowering meats, so that definitely helps.

Price: 5/5
Wait Time: 3/5 (There was a bit of a wait for me because there was actually a decent sized line ahead of me.)
Presentation: 5/5
Taste: 4/5

Vizzi Truck

Their Menu

Braised Wagyu Beef Sliders (2) and Black Skillet Chicken Slider

Cookies

Braised Shredded Beef Sliders with Special Creme on a hawaiian roll, Grilled Chicken Thigh with Creme Sauce, Popcorn dusted with white truffle powder, salt, figs, and 2 Chef Inspired Cookies.

Judgment: The beef is SO TENDER!  The sliders literally break apart and melt in your mouth.  I’m sure they use a special slow-cooking process to make the beef so soft and the flavors are fused into the meat so robustly.  The Hawaiian Sweet Roll is there mainly to give you a break in the midst of the rich flavor of the beef and creme sauce.  What was surprising to me was that the Wagyu Beef Sliders were already really good, the Black Skillet Chicken was even better!  The skin was crispy, and the chicken was very moist!  I would have thought it would have been dry but I felt the chicken slider was better than the beef ones.  I think that now when I go eat at Vizzi’s on my free time, I’ll probably just order 3 of the chicken sliders.  The sliders were also pretty massive as you can see, the chicken was twice the size of the sweet rolls in the photo.  The Popcorn was a good idea and alternative to french fries, and definitely a bit healthier than a box of fries as well. The white truffle essence is kind of hard to pick up on, but it is definitely there, with the Figs in to provide a hint of sweetness whenever you happen to eat one.  The cookies were okay, just your typical run of the mill fresh baked cookies.  I was hoping it was as amazing as the sliders but I guess it was a fine way to round out the meal.

Price: 4/5
Wait Time: 4/5 (Even though there is a wait time, I like how this truck had LCD TV’s mounted on it to help pass the wait time)
Presentation: 5/5
Taste: 5/5

That’s all for now!  I think I’ll be visiting the Irvine DinDin-A-GoGo tonight.  I want to go bowling again!

- Gilbert

Lee’s Gogi Truck – http://twitter.com/#!/leesphilly

Vizzi Truck – http://vizzitruck.com/