The Tasting Panel magazine

WORD OF MOUTH Keep on Truckin' T MERRILL SHINDLER DISHES ON THE RESILIENCE OF GOURMET GRUB ON THE "GO" he rumors of the imminent demise of the gourmet food truck are, like Mark Twain's description of the reports of his death, "greatly exaggerated." Ever since the first culinarily quirky food truck hit the streets (generally acknowledged as the Kogi BBQ Truck in Los Angeles), the punditoc- racy has been announcing the trend is over. And yet—it isn't. Indeed, food trucks are more prevalent and ubiquitous than ever, serving dishes that continue to defy all imagining—and all logic. And the lines keep on growing. What Chef Roy Choi and his pirate crew begat with Kogi was a fusion of Korean and Mexican flavors—dishes like their kimchee quesadilla, their short rib burrito and their Sriracha sauce chocolate bar—food that would stand out were it served at a divey sit-down in an edgy part of town, but really glows when ladled out from any of the four Kogi BBQ trucks that roam Southern California. But what Choi also did was to set a standard for Food Truck Cuisine that keep expanding into worlds formerly unknown and unexpected. The number of "gourmet" spin-offs of those original "gourmet" trucks transcendeth all compre- hension. There's a truck that specializes in nothing but dishes served on toast—the Get Toasted Truck. There's a truck that serves nothing but the French fries-cheese curds-and-gravy favorite from French Canada called poutine—the Poutine Truck. One of the most popular of the trucks is built around noth- ing but grilled cheese sandwich—The Grilled Cheese Truck. There's a truck that serves sushi burritos—The Jogasaki Truck. There's a truck that offers the regional cooking of Pittsburgh—the Steel City Truck. It's notable that many of the trucks offer a cuisine that probably wouldn't survive in a brick-and-mortar setting; the monthly rental costs would eat up whatever small profit margin there is. Some of the food trucks have added a brick-and-mortar option, with decent success; but for those of us whose idea of a modern restaurant involves four wheels, it's just not the same thing. And it's also notable that for many restaurateurs, the evolution has gone the other way—from brick- and-mortar to rolling stock. Formerly high-end chef Ludo Lefèbvre now works on two levels: He opens occasional pop-ups he calls LudoBites in odd parts of town (they sell out almost instantly online), and he has a roaming restaurant called the LudoTruck, which served fried chicken. Fried chicken from a chef whose meals used to run $100 a person and up. Ludo says he's seen the future—and it doesn't include a lease, servers or fine silver. Instead, it's all about a friendly curb and a street lamp. And BYOB. 10 / the tasting panel / january/february 2012 ILLUSTRATION: JUSTINE GVIRTZMAN

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