Once upon a time, there was an empty lot in Santa Monica. Then, the owner of the lot thought, “Hey, what if–instead of selling the lot–I let food trucks park here and sell food?”
People loved it. All day.
Then, Santa Monica shut it down.
So what is a food truck to do? They scattered to the winds. Fortunately for me, two of them landed just a few bus stops away from my office. And also fortunately for me, one of them was posting on Twitter.
First up, Calbi BBQ. This truck serves Korean-style BBQ. I ordered two tacos: one beef, one shrimp. I got two tacos: one beef, one chicken (I think). Get the chicken–it was excellent, and I didn’t even get the spicy sauce. The shrimp might be great, but I don ‘t know. The beef was fine, but I liked the offerings at Kogi BBQ better.
A half block away was the truck I’d found via Twitter: Frysmith. As you might guess, they sell fries, topped with a range of multicultural offerings. I chose the Rajas fries, which come with shawarma-marinated steak, poblano peppers, caramelized onions, and jack cheese. This combination is delicious. It’s also a meal, which means that I would have been able to have more of it if I hadn’t eaten two tacos from the Calbi truck just moments before.
Between the two trucks, though, I’d had a fair amount of spice. What to do? Why, walk across the street to Baskin Robbins and have a scoop of New York Cheesecake, of course.
So what did this feast set me back? If you add in the water and don’t count the $2 in bus fare, about $13 for more food than I could (and probably should) eat.
Later, I thought, “Hmm. I probably didn’t need that mid-morning protein shake.”