I’m really excited to announce that Chef Jet Tila has joined the lineup for our Global Street Food event at the Broad Stage on May 1.  Many of you know Jet from his appearances on Good Food.  As the menu at his restaurant Wazuzu shows, Jet is really knowledgeable about all varieties of Asian food.
Jet will be joining Evan and Gustavo Arellano on stage.  We’ll also be Skyping with food writers Lesley Tellez in Mexico City and Robyn Eckhardt in Malaysia.  Robyn promises she’ll be be wide awake, as …

For this week’s show, Gustavo Arellano and I went to Lonchera Lane, a stretch of Main Street in Santa Ana (Orange County) with some of the best food trucks in Southern California.

Alebrijes Grill – Home of the Battleship Taco (taco acorazado)
Mariscos Los Corales – Aguachile
Hot Taco – Birria de Chivo
Los Reyes de el Elote Azado (Roasted Corn Kings) – Roasted Corn

The crush at the Brig parking lot.
Korean fried chicken from Ahn Joo
Chili Cheese Fries from Frysmith
India Jones‘ Paratha
Cheeseburger Dumpling, Shu Mai and Shrimp/Chive Dumplings from the Dim Sum Truck
Bacon wrapped rice cylinders from Ahn Joo

This Saturday, I’ll be a judge at the Vendy Awards – the street food award event that is making its debut on the west coast.  Jeff Miller of Thrillist will be the emcee.  Here’s a list of the nominees and a video to boot:
Who do you want to win?

When Evan and I were at RoadStoves taping a segment, we ran into the guys from South Philly Experience, a food truck specializing in all things Philadelphia.  Check out the video:

I went to First Fridays on Abbot Kinney in Venice last week – what a great scene.  It was an opportunity to sample some of the food trucks we’ve been covering.  I saw Kogi, of course, the Grilled Cheese Truck, the Border Grill Truck, World Fare’s Double Decker Bus, India Jones, Calbi, and many more.  All the merchants stayed open late, some had musicians, some had artists painting out front.  My only complaint was that every bar packed to the gills, and we couldn’t get a drink anywhere.  Because …

I was driving down La Brea one night, on my way home, and saw The Sweets Truck on the West side of the street.  I had never seen them before so I pulled over to check it out.  Through Roadstoves (see Good Food 2/27/10), Molly Taylor (the owner) converted a step truck, which different from the other catering trucks.  They have a rotating selection of desserts… perfect for that post-cocktail, post-taco treat.

If you’re into eating food off a truck, check out this new iPhone app, Los Angeles Street Food, to help you locate all the LA-area food trucks.  You can get it on iTunes for $1.99.  It hooks up with your iPhone’s GPS and connects to Twitter via the web interface.  It’s got a lot of reviews too.

People become vegetarians for many reasons.  Author Jonathan Safran Foer explains why he gave up meat.  Evan George and Alex Brown call themselves the Hot Knives.  They share the secret to pairing beer with cheese and music.  Gourmet food trucks are all the rage in Los Angeles. But the city of Portland did it first.  Teri Gelber tells us how the Northwestern city does street food.  Javier Cabral sorts out his favorite food trucks in Los Angeles.  We visit with the man behind Kogi Korean tacos, Roy Choi.   …

The largest gathering of LA’s most popular food trucks including the Grilled Cheese Truck, Nom Nom, Fishlips Sushi, Barbie’s Q and the Buttermilk Truck, will come together to support the Red Cross International Response Fund relief efforts for Haiti.
WHEN:   Saturday, January 23, 2010
11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
WHERE:  TLofts
11500 Tennessee Avenue (Olympic and Butler)
Los Angeles, CA  90064