Yup....it's been a while since my last post. This blog would be much easier to constantly update if I wasn't working 50 hours/wk. But I've found some time tonight so we are going to play a little catch-up. In the spirit of my internships this summer, I am going to treat every food truck/restaurant as if I were pitching a script I read that week (something I do every Monday morning at our weekend read meetings) --therefore, I am going to either PASS, CONSIDER, or RECOMMEND. Like the movie biz, recommends on this food truck blog will be rare and I'm assuming there will be a lot of passes.
My first spot after starting the blog was a place called "No Reservations Catering". As I was walking along "Food Cart Row" deciding which one I wanted to try first, I looked for a couple of factors. Price was obviously important since I'm an unpaid intern and a little food cart blog isn't worth starving for the rest of my summer. Another factor was the amount of people waiting. If it was a long line, I assumed it was good. So when I saw the President of Mandate Picture's two assistants waiting in the 10 minute line at "No Res", I figured it must've been worth it.
I got the "Good Fellas" wrap. One of my all-time favorite movies. Unfortunately, Scorsese wasn't behind this meal. The description (see left) made it sound delicious but when I bit into the wrap that was already way too small, the ingredients weren't up to par. I expected the gorgonzola cheese and the creme fraiche sauce to stand out but the whole thing tasted really bland. The steak was real chewy. Anyone can write an appealing menu but without quality ingredients it doesn't matter.The best part of the meal was the Boylan's Cherry Red Birch Beer - something the cart had nothing to do with. "No Reservations Catering" is a definite PASS.
My first attempt was a failure. I began to think...was this really worth it? Buying overpriced food that wasn't even that good all summer? I knew I couldn't give up. Luckily, my good buddy Jake who interns at Universal Music grabbed lunch with me that day. He always tends to get something from the food trucks as well whenever we do lunch. He told me he went to a place near the corner called "Pita Pusher" and the guy hooked him up with free falafel after he ordered the spicy potatoes. I was still hungry and unsatisfied so I went to the "Pita Pusher" and the guy behind the counter was the man. He had no problem giving me the two falafels with some spicy salsa and tzaztziki sauce to go with my potatoes. The potatoes themselves were great with the seasoning and touches of cilantro but what stood out was the falafel - best I've had outside of Israel. For those from UW, Med Cafe is just about tied but what made these work was that they were perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.With the right amount of cool flavor from the sauce, Pita Pusher's falafel was a pleasant surprise. CONSIDER.
As we were walking away from our table outside of Lionsgate in Santa Monica, Jake and I saw none other than Patton Oswalt sitting down having lunch - the voice of Remy the rat from Ratatoullie - yes that Pixar movie about food. This was definitely a sign and my hopes were renewed.
Day one was in the books. It worked out like any good movie should - the setup in act one by figuring out I wanted to start this blog, conflict in act two by trying a terrible first meal, and a climax in act three by finding a decent cart and seeing Patton. Not too bad of a start and there was definitely more to come.