Kogi Taco, Calbi BBQ, Green Truck, Let’s Be Frank, Nom Nom, Sprinkles Cupcakes… the world of Food Trucks is going to hell in a hand basket around Los Angeles! Try walking through downtown LA at night and you’ll spot a plethora of uniquely themed Food Trucks ranging from Korean BBQ to Indian Cuisine.

The craze started a little over a year ago when a Food Truck serving Korean themed Mexican food parked outside a popular night club and the craze took off faster than a Pink Berry like yogurt stand on your corner. Since these are mobile restaurants, you’ll have to track them down using the Twitter feeds or sites like findlafoodtrucks.com.

By far, the most popular Taco Truck right now is the Kogi taco truck, which has spawned several smaller imitators. I first attempted to grab a quick bite during lunch at Kogi, but seeing as the line was about 40 people long, we opted for the next best thing. Calbi BBQ!

Nothing snazy here. Just a food truck parked on the side of the street with sodas, waters and Korean beverages. Try ordering the Sac Sac orange juice without giggling.

I ordered the beef burrito with a side of Sriracha for $5. Upon the first bite, only one thought came to mind. An Anthony Bourdain TV promo where he’s biting into an egg sandwich and says “I’m a total egg slut!”. The eggs in this burrito make such a nice complement to the Korean bbq beef that I couldn’t believe how good this thing was. Top it off with Sriracha and I was in heaven!

19117 Pioneer Boulevard
Artesia, CA 90701

http://www.yelp.com/biz/pho-tasty-artesia

Pho, Fo, Fah, Phoh..

Fuh? Say it like you’re asking a question. For those who don’t know, that’s how you phonetically pronounced this staple of Vietnamese cuisine. Not only is it quick and tasty, Pho is CHEAP! Ranging from $4 – $7, one can usually rely on heading out to a local Pho restaurant for a tasty meal of sliced beef, tripe, beef balls and rice noodles.

Pulling up my trusty Yelp application on my iPhone, I quickly honed in on this restaurant in my neighborhood with 4.5/5 from 140+ reviews.

For the most part, my favorite Vietnamese restaurants consists of a small hole in the wall type restaurant with a short Asian mom manning the cashier. Pho Tasty is anything, but small shanty hole in the wall. It is a modestly sized Vietnamese restaurants with seating for roughtly 40 people.

Ordering is pretty simple here. Find the “Special Combination” or “Special Bowl” and order it. I’m not finicky when ordering my food, so just order the combo and remove anything that doesn’t float your boat.  If you’re feeling extra hungry, there’s always the spring roll or eggroll to order as an appetizer.

Pictured above is the Special Combination Super Bowl with a side of rare beef. Only $0.50 more for a larger bowl and $2.00 for extra meat! I’m starting to feel fatter as I’m writing this.

Also accompanying the meal are mint leaves, lime, chilis and bean sprouts. Once they bring these over, feel free to ask the servers to steam the bean sprouts. They taste much better that way since I don’t like how the raw beansprouts make my meal extra crunchy.

Remember the rare beef? Hold off on it next time. There’s a TON of meat in this Pho! The meat served here is pretty high quality with the noodles cooked just right. Sometimes restaurants serve their Pho still clinging on to each other, but these fell apart nicely.

Lastly, it would be a sin to have a Pho entry without listing the two staples of southeast Asian cuisine. Sriracha and Hoisin Sauce! Sriracha is a world renounce hot sauce that can practically be found at any Asian restaurant. Add it on top of anything and you’re set. I use this combo of Sriracha and Hoisin as dipping sauce to my meats. Yum!

131 Fishermans Wharf
Redondo Beach, CA 90277

http://www.yelp.com/biz/pacific-fish-center-and-restaurant-redondo-beach

After a weeknight dinner at local favorite, Quality Seafood, I decided to walk around the pier to see what else we could nibble on. And nibble on we did! Towards the end of the pier is another seafood restaurant called Pacific Fish, which I’ve vistied a couple years back for the famous boiling crab.

I only wanted something bite size to complement the lobster dinner I had half an hour prior so raw shrimp aka sweet shrimp was in order! Not for the squirmish, sweet shrimp is considered a Japanese sushi delicacy with the price tag to earn that reputation.

I’m used to having my fresh raw sushi served already dead, but this was a new experience for me. Eating raw shrimp isn’t for many people. In fact, I know some folks who love these things, but if it’s still moving, they’ll back down.

At $34.99 lb, these suckers may be well worth it if you’re a fan of sushi. They are served raw. Very raw. I mean the kind of raw that still wiggles as you’re pulling their bodies apart from the still ungulating heads. Yes, this is sushi at it’s finest! I couldn’t stop feeling pretty darn evil for what I was doing. The thought of an episode of Shwotime’s Dexer crossed through my head once. Kind of hard not to think like that as you’re ripping the bodies off of the heads and noticing these little feelers moving beneath the semi translucent shells.

Yes, I should be prosecuted for cruel and unusual punishment, but to be honest, this was some of the freshest sweet shrimp I’ve ever had.

To top things off, once you’re done eating the body, the severs will deep fry your shrimp heads for some more daring adventures. You won’t have to worry about the shrimps coming back for revenge. Once deep friend, these heads become extremely crunchy and tasty. Then again, what’s not good deepfried?

130 Internatl Boardwalk, Redondo, Ca
(310) 374-2382

www.qualityseafood.net

http://www.yelp.com/biz/quality-seafood-redondo-beach

Located in King’s Harbor marketplace in Redondo Beach. Quality Seafood has been serving freshly caught seafood to the South Bay area for over 40 years. After hearing about this place and the prospect of some live sea urchin aka Uni, I made a quick weeknight dinner trip down.

Quality Seafood looks pretty much like what you would expect from a seafood market off the docks. It offers rows and rows of fresh seafood ranging from crabs, oysters, lobsters and other wild assortments that I’ve never even heard of. Unfortunately, our main attraction of live uni is something you’ll have to come try around noon since those aren’t caught in large quantities and are sold out by noon.

Lobster was the order of the night. You can chose from your select choices from frozen to hand picked live and frisky type. They were running a $15 summer special for a 1 2/3 lb Maine Lobster, corn and BUTTER! Kind of hard to beat so we went for it!

I’m not sure if it was due to the late night cholesterol feasting, but our lobster orders were steam heated in plastic bags. Kind of thought that was odd and unfortunately, it affected the quality of the lobster.

They also have an oyster bar with a large assortment of oysters from coast to cost. The banner says it all so try at least one oyster!

Clevedon Coast, Hamma Hamma and Miyagi oysters. Start from right to left as the Miyagis were very sweet and Clevedon tasted very oceany. Overall, they were pretty good. If you’re the type that’s doesn’t care about being ghetto fabulous, feel free to bring your own Tabasco sauce. Shrink wrapped Tapatio just doesn’t do it for me when it comes to oysters.

The lobster made for a pretty picture, but was a little disappointing. You know you’re not eating fresh shellfish when the shells bend and contort when you try to crack them. The meal was a little bland and not filling enough for a full dinner. Needless to say, if you’re driving all the way to Redondo Beach for some fresh seafood, leave the “summer” special behind and order some fresh seafood!

We walked around the pier to see what other bites were offered in the area so click here if you want to see some live sweet shrimp.

Special thanks to Christine and Christy for coming out!

http://www.alpinevillage.net/oktoberfest.htm
http://www.yelp.com/biz/oktoberfest—the-alpine-village-torrance

My first Oktoberfest experience happened last year in Alpine Village located in Torrance, Ca. According to their website, they’ve been hosting this festive event for the last 42 years and it’s no surprise why it has lasted this long.

Housed in a large tent canopy in the middle of Alpine village is the annual Oktoberfest, which runs from September 12th – October 25th, 2009. After parking your car, you’ll feel the German brewsky charged partying vibe right from the parking lot. Pay an $8 entrance fee and off you go!

Loud music, jovial dancing and a live German band greet you as you enter the tent. Occasionally, the band will invite guests up for drinking contests ranging from the fastest drinker to how long can you hold your stein. Winners walk away with a full belly and some souveniers.

Whether you brought your own stein or purchased one on site ($10), you’ll have to buy drink vouchers. A full 1 liter stein will set you back $10 or you can shell out $5 for a .5 liter paper cup. All tickets come in $5 increments with food items ranging from $5 for sausages to $10 giant pretzels.

Multicolored lights flash red, green, blue and white around the perimeter of the tent adding to some great ambiance.

Occasionally, the band members walk down to the floor and start a train that stretches around the tent and on stage. Don’t be shy!

Surprisingly, the crowd is well mannered considering all the beer that’s served at the event. The crowd really gets into the beat of things later in the night. You’ll more than likely end up sitting at the table watching everyone else for the first liter of beer, but will soon find yourself running around like a mad man as you dance to funky German music. Songs range from the chicken dance to “Alice, Alice, Who the F*CK is Alice”. Not sure where that last song came from, but for some reason, everyone knew the chorus.

Throughout the night, this guy kept drinking it up. This was  number 6 and he probably ended the night with 8 or 9. I had 2.5 and woke up the next morning with a hangover so I don’t know how this guy could do it.

The band members really get into the event by hopping on to the tables with their instruments to get the crowd riled up. Lederhosen and instruments must be a chick magnet formula because the ladies were all over these guys like nerds on boothbabes.

There’re two big don’ts at this event. Stacking your cups and standing on the tables with the exception of girls who want to take pictures of the band members. I can understand the table rule, but what’s wrong with cups?! More than likely related to the clean up factor.

What’s an Oktoberfest without some sausages! This $5 Polish Sausage was actually quite tasty with a heap of sour kraut on top. It was probably the artery clogging goodness and drunk happy beer factor, but it definitely hit the spot. You can purchase the sausage + 1 condiment for $5 or sausage + 2 condiments for $10. Don’t bother with the later since you’re basically getting extra sour kraut for $5 more. Just get two sausages instead.

Remember that pretzel? Yes, that’s a big bitch! (Not friendly blond girl who offered to let me take a pic. Thank You!)

The bald guy behind us totally photobombed our pic, but I forgive him cause it kindda works.

I’ve never been to the authentic Oktoberfest in Germany, but the Alpine Village Oktoberfest will make due for now. The beer is great, the crowd is friendly and the band really seals the deal. You can end the night in two fashions. 1. Leave the party with a designated driver feeling good and wicked tipsy or 2. Passing out at a table as some jerk snaps a picture of you.  Either way, you probably had a blast that night. I’ve only been here twice, but it has quickly become a regular event for my circle of friends. Worth the drive and definitely worth the experience.