Nina's Food

Congratulations to Nina’s Food – winner of the first LA Vendy!

The Vendys are the food truck version of the Oscars. New York has been holding Vendy Awards for its street food vendors since 2005. This past weekend, the Vendys brought their competition to LA.

The judges were:

Evan Kleiman, owner/executive chef of Angeli Caffe and host of KCRW’s Good Food

Javier Cabral, who writes the blog Teenage Glutster

Jon Shook & Vinny Dotolo, owners/chefs of Animal restaurant (named Best New Chefs of 2009 by Food & Wine magazine)

Bill Esparza, who writes the blog Street Gourmet LA

Nina’s Food won by unanimous decision.

Chef Nina Garcia is particularly known for making amazing quesadillas (made on handmade tortillas). She is based in Boyle Heights, and can be found on twitter at:

http://twitter.com/breedstscene

For more info on the Vendy Awards, go to: http://streetvendor.org/vendys/la/about

Kogi

Kogi is the granddaddy of them all (if all refers only to the other twittering food trucks patrolling LA). They weren’t the first people to combine Korean and Mexican food, but they were the first to introduce it to the masses.

If you’ve never been, you should try it.
And if you’ve never eaten at a food truck, you should probably start with Kogi.


Kogi represents all that I love about the new-ish food truck moment. The lower cost of entry provides an opportunity for chefs to take risks, play, and introduce new food. And a fairly diverse community has sprung up in support. At its best, it’s like a utopian version of Bladerunner, in which all the disparate elements of LA have combined harmoniously and Harrison Ford never made Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

If you only try one thing: beef short rib burrito

http://kogibbq.com
http://twitter.com/kogibbq

Who Am I? And Why Am I Doing This? (an introduction)

I don’t work in the food industry, and I’m not a professional food critic. I’m not trying to be Jonathan Gold or win a Pulitzer or anything with this blog. I’m just a food enthusiast (more of a chowhound than a foodie) who is excited about the food truck movement, and wants to share some opinions.

I’m probably not going to write comprehensive reviews of every food truck in LA (there are at least 90 currently on twitter), but if I find something worth eating, I’ll let you know.