Yuri Japanese Truck (Closed)

Various locations
Los Angeles, CA
www.yuritruck.com

They had a location in the heart of Melrose and closed up shop. Then they had a truck, but neither of their websites are working. So, it looks like the its the first of the food truck failures.

$7 Tilapia Bowl (8)
Talking with the chef, he got his hands on some fresh tilapia in downtown the same morning and decided to serve it in a rice bowl with some greens. It's dishes like this that remind me how simple preparation on seafood is so approriate. It was lightly grilled with salt, pepper, and finished off with lime. It was better than some restaurants preparation of seafood.

$4 Tuna Crunch Roll (2)
I wasn't expecting much from this dish and it still disappointed. It was just so oil from the crunch, it even seeped into the tuna.

$2 Green Tea with Yuzu (8)
They basically take brewed tea and add a tablespoon of yuzu marmalade that you can find at Asian markets. It was simple, but was quite refreshing and my girlfriend oved the drink so much I actually went and got a jar of the marmalade to use at home.

Kogi

Various locations

Los Angeles, CA

(714) 697-4683

www.kogibbq.com


Kogi, the cult-followed food truck, got its break by handing out free samples to bouncers and receiving press from local food bloggers. It's largely the cause of the uber-specialized lonchera surge in Los Angeles.

A good way to skip the line is to find it outside a club before the drunks stumble out after last call. I caught it at about 10PM in West LA on a Friday night and there was no line. I got one of everything to see what all the hype was about.

$5 Kimchi Quesadilla (3)
By definition a quesadilla should be dominated by cheese. This was not and I'm positive, not even Heston Blumenthal could convince me that kimchi and tortilla chemically belong together. The flavor combination just didn't work for me.

$2 Korean Short Rib Taco (8), Spicy BBQ Chicken (7), Spicy Pork (7), Tofu (6)
As far as taste and flavor goes, the short rib taco hit a perfect 10, the downside I saw was how fattening and greasy all the tacos were. It made perfect sense why they got a strong following outside bars and clubs. That was the first thing I thought when I ate one, this would be perfect after a night out drinking. It reminds me of when I read LA Times review of Animal and she dinged them big-time because the fat content in the food. The difference being that Animal, doesn't solely rely on fat for its flavoring. Chef Choi may want to think about testing a pure butter burrito, wait they kind of already have that.

I'm glad I tried it once, but I wouldn't return until their flavors rely less on grease. I do think they deserve some major kudos for inspiring all these other creative food trucks.

Gautemala Trip - Street Food