Roach Coach No More – Special Report
Food trucks have evolved to match both the pocketbooks and culinary tastes of everyone from students to serious foodies.
By Matt DeLorenzo / Photos by Guy Spangenberg
February 28, 2012
“From a humble sausage to a plated dish featuring risotto and truffles, the fare from food trucks has evolved to match both the pocketbooks and culinary tastes of everyone from students to serious foodies.
In Orange County, there is no shortage of these trucks and a list provided by The Orange County Register’s Food Maven, Nancy Luna, had 21 entries, ranging in Asian fusion fare (Komodo) and specialty fare (Spudrunners) to simple dogs (Dogzilla) and burgers (Twist Burger).
All seven of the folks we contacted were willing to come by the office. Alas, it was difficult to choose, but for our “comparison test” we selected Daniel Shemtob’s The Lime Truck (winner of the Food Network’s Great Food Truck Race); Jay DiEugenio’s Bacon Mania, which features a solid menu of comfort food; and our test truck, Brats Berlin, owned by Christian and Danielle Murcia and Joe Sue.
The trucks were parked nose to tail (or in the case of BaconMania, cheek by jowl) in our parking lot and the staff turned loose to sample the wares from all three. One comment, from Shemtob, is not what you’d expect from a food truck chef: “Hey, I need about 20 minutes to get the risotto going.” DiEugenio had his bacon and burger sliders going on the grill, and Christian from Brats Berlin offered up exotic sausages.
Among our favorites were the Jack Back Sammie (our fav too @GourmetFoodTrk), BaconMania’s signature grilled cheese and bacon sandwich, washed down with Bacon soda (not baking soda) and chased with a bacon-wrapped brownie. In addition to the brats at Brats Berlin (we missed Wisconsin-based Peter Egan’s cultured palate for that one), they dished up some tasty Belgian-style frittes with a to-die-for sauce. The Lime Truck had killer carnitas tacos and salmon quesadillas, but their over-the-top plated dish of scallops and asparagus on risotto with truffles was clearly their star dish. Price? $65. From plates like that to bacon-wrapped macaroni and cheese, food truck cuisine is clearly not for the faint of heart.”
Click here to read the original article and see more photos
