Food Trucks in San Diego

[Kouign Aman]

I spent years working where breakfast and lunch came from the Roach Coach - bagels at breakfast, burgers and burritos for lunch.

Now, I am more likely to encounter a 'food truck'.

Recently friends and I ate lunch from 'Devilicious'. They serve it up rich!

Signature lobster-grilled cheese sandwich

Cheesesteak, Devilicious style

Grilled ham and cheese - the winner of the day for me. The cheese is brie and oozes most successfully.

crab cake sandwich with the optional upgrade to the side salad - salad caprese-ish. We enjoyed both options of side salad.

fries w truffle oil and parmesan. Crispy and light. The order was large enough for the 5 of us to split.

sweet potato tater tots w maple

There are still things left to try.

[FrogPrincesse]

Great post Kouign Aman; it's good to see the good things that are happening in San Diego!

There are lots of food trucks in San Diego these days. I'm a regular at MIHO (I talked about them in my foodblog here). I really like that the fact they are focused on local/seasonal ingredients. They expanded recently and added a second truck. Their menu is more streamlined now - they used to have only 3 or 4 items on the menu and change them every week; now they offer more options but don't change as often. I hope that the quality won't suffer too much from these changes.

My husband just tried Mangia Mangia today and loved it. He had a classic meatball sandwich with nicely browned meatballs.

[Kouign Aman]

I like MangiaMangia too.

This is what I had from there, just before Christmas:

It was a treat.

I'll have to look up MIHO and see whither they roam.

Edited February 4, 2012 by Kouign Aman (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Love, love, love roasted bone marrow...

Depending on the day, MIHO covers Carlsbad, Del Mar Heights, Rancho Bernardo, Sorrento Valley, UTC, Kearny Mesa, North Park, South Park, Mission Valley, and Downtown. Schedule here.

[kalypso]

Here is a link to a list of food trucks in San Diego. This site also usually has their tweets and locations as well. The 3rd friday of every momth there is a food truck gathering at 57 Degrees at Washington and Kettner. I haven't been and have herad mixed reviews of this function.

This is a local blogger who has blogged fairly regularly about food trucks in SD. You'll probably have to do a blog serch to find them tho' as he's got regular resto reviews and information on there.

Two of my favorite food trucks are in the south county almost to the border. The Tortas Ahogada truck in the Toy's R Us parking lot in Chula Vista (Palomar exit off the I-5). Tortas Ahogada, or drowned torta, are the specialty of Guadalajara where they are wildly popular. The torta roll is a special one designed to hold up to being drenched in the sauce so it's kind of hard and crusty on the outside and soft and somewhat chewy on the inside. It's traditionally filled with pork, some toppings and then drenched in a spicy chile sauce. It's not everyone' cup of tea, but this is a pretty good rendition of the genre.

My other favorite is Tacos El Pescador also in Chula Vista, also in the same Toy's R Us parking lot. The link is to a blog post about this place and the pictures do all the talking. Scroll down to the bottom of the post and there is a list of Mexican places that reads like the Top 10 greatest tacos shops (with 3 exceptions) in SD, it's a solid list.

FWIW, Devilicious will be opening a brick and mortar place in Mira Mesa shortly called 'Which Craft, open for breakfast & lunch. And several of the other trucks are looking for permanent locations now that they've devleoped a following. Health dept. regs in the county do not make it easy to run a truck.

Edited February 4, 2012 by kalypso (log)

[Stefferdoos]

We had Devilicious come to our offices for a few weeks while we were waiting for our own food services to come on board. I found it to be inconsistent. My favorite truck has been Tabe (Korean BBQ taco truck). Since our offices have moved, we don't see them anymore. I may have to go and find them some day. I've never stopped at MIHO. Mostly because the lines always seem really long.

Recess is another big favorite of mine. Their tots rock! I really want to stop at Mangia Mangia as well. Thanks for the review on that one.

[Kouign Aman]

They all have facebook pages and twitter accounts, so you can always know where your favorite is headed.

[Kouign Aman]

Sounds like San Diego is moving toward giving letter grades to the trucks, much as they do for brick and mortar restaurants. That will help differentiate between roach coaches and the others. I think it must be twice as hard to maintain temperature control as in a regular kitchen, but perhaps easier to keep vermin from establishing themselves since there's no wall space to hide in. Plus, you'd have to keep it neat inside, or there'd be no room at all to work!

Food Truck rating system under consideration

[Kouign Aman]

Turns out there's a food truck meet-up in Point Loma on Saturday evening [2930 Barnard Street, behind 7-11, a few feet off W Pt Loma Blvd, near Souplantation].

I've only eaten from one of these trucks, and I plan to be there to check out a few more of them. I know Operacaffe also has a brick&mortar parent. Naturally I am especially curious about Curiosity!

Devilicious

Operacaffe

Curiosity

Groggy's

Thai 1 On

[FrogPrincesse]

I had a nice pork belly banh mi from MIHO today, it's one of their specialties. I really liked the fact that they used high-quality bread.

PORK BELLY BANH MI

all natural pork belly, house pickled local carrot & daikon, local cilantro, local jalapeno, sesame aioli, baguette {7.95}

[Kouign Aman]

'wich addiction (brick and mortar spinoff of Devilicious) is now open, on Flanders, facing Mira Mesa blvd.

The shop itself is clean and spare and modern. The owners are cooking.

The deepfried chili is fun. Its mild, crunchy, and a nice snack.

The porkbelly and fennel salad was good, as was the beet and orange salad.

My friends enjoyed the corned beef sandwich and turkey sandwich.

Pix to follow.

[Kouign Aman]

I'm a bit late with these - they were taken in February, and in the meantime I've forgotten the names of everything.

The truck was Thai 1 On. We shared this food with several friends and we all thought this truck is a winner.

The soup was very welcome on a chilly afternoon.

Both hot (caliente) and hot (picante). Shrimp were optional and worth the small markup (we ate them all before the photo was taken).

They didnt have that 'precooked then added to the dish at the last minute' taste that so much of San Diego Thai food does.

Noodles for the child (low spice).

The satay mentioned on the side of the truck. Tasty w generous amount of bird on the stick, nice peanutty spicy dipping sauce.

The wide noodles were my favorite after the soup.

[FrogPrincesse]

I had lunch at MIHO again last week. I had their pesto flatbread with house-(hot) smoked salmon, broccoli, pea tendrils and ricotta.

It was quite tasty, a tad on the salty side.

I really love these watermelon radishes: they look gorgeous and their crunch is great.

Edited April 23, 2012 by FrogPrincesse (log)

[Kouign Aman]

Looks good, FrogPrincesse. I havent encountered MIHO yet. Bet those radishes are fun to grow.

Here's a sandwich from Groggies.

Buffalo Chicken - fried chicken chunks in buffalo wing sauce, with lettuce, blue cheese dressing and frenchfries in the wrap. The chicken was crispy and the sauce had sufficient bite to overcome the dilution by bread etc.

Its a tasty monster. Easily a meal for two, and I think I prefer my fries on the side.

Good enough to try other things on the menu next time I see the truck, maybe not to go out of my way for.

Then again, I'm not much of a sandwich eater.

The truck:

the "fat" sandwich:

[Kouign Aman]

My friend sent me these:

SuperQ is the truck arm of Kaminski's in Poway. The parent store does all kinds of Q. Good stuff. I especially like the Carolina style sauce on pork. I havent eaten at the truck.

These are the "Nachos". My friend enjoyed them very much.

[FrogPrincesse]

Recent lunches from MIHO.

Bloody mary burger (grass-fed beef, pickled veggies, Point Reyes blue cheese, bloody Mary catsup)

Squash blossom quesadilla (local squash blossom, anaheim chile & citrus salsa, caramelized onion, local arugula, Spring Hill cheddar, cotija, local flour tortilla). These squash blossoms were very tasty.

And today's lunch, carnitas (Berkshire pork, hand made guacamole, fire roasted salsa, house pickled red onion, cotija, local corn tortilla). The pickled onion was a nice touch.

[Kouign Aman]

Devilicious changed hands last month, lock, stock, and recipes. Has anyone eaten 'there' since?

[FrogPrincesse]

More meals from MIHO since June. I still enjoy this place very much.

I loved the eggplant wrap (smoked local eggplant, white bean hummus, fresh local cucumber, local onion sprouts, roasted local sweet pepper, home made créme fraîche, lavash)

The salmon taco was not especially memorable although it is nice to see fish on the menu (olive oil poached salmon, local lamb's quarter & padron pesto, local epazote crema, pickled local peppers, crispy local chard, shaved local radish, local flour tortilla).

I was not crazy about the chicken shawarma flatbread - the meat was a little dry and over-seasonned (all natural chicken, house pickled local veggies, local little gem, tahini garlic sauce, hand made flatbread).

I LOVED the heirloom tomato sandwich (fresh local heirloom tomato, house smoked local avocado puree, gruyere, local arugula, local levain). The picture does not do it justice. It was very "meaty" and satisfying.

The pulled pork sandwich was a little bland.

The torta de Adobada was great (all natural Berkshire pork, house pickled red onion, black beans, shredded lettuce, salsa de cacauate, fresh cilantro, panella, local avocado, hand made mayo, local telera). I could have lived without the mayo but the meat was delicious and all the other elements added something interesting to the mix.

[FrogPrincesse]

I went to the newly opened Public Market last weekend which currently functions as a farmer's market and had lunch at a food truck named Miss Sushi. We ordered a bunch of items and waited... and waited (even though there were only few people). It took a while and I was afraid that the wait would not justify the end result. However I was wrong on that point.

First we got this delicious yellowtail tostada. The fried tortilla was super crisp. The yellowtail was resting on a bed of seaweed salad and it was topped with fresh avocado. Delicious.

Then we had a couple of sushi rolls. Caterpillar on the left and "crunchy roll" (shrimp) on the right.

You can see the attention to detail in the presentation, and the ingredients were great with high-quality seafood . This was much better than most low- to mid-range sushi restaurant that I've tried in the past. Try it if you get a chance!

[FrogPrincesse]

First lunch from MIHO in a long time. Shimp po'boy with battered & fried wild mexican shrimp, kumquat remoulade, pickled red onion, local baguette.

They got me at the "kumquat remoulade" which was great with the shrimp. It was nice to have some acidity from the pickled onion. Overall this combo worked really well.

[Toliver]

A recent news items says that San Diego food trucks will now be given the same letter grades as restaurants by health inspectors.

Here's hoping your favorite food truck is an "A"!