FOOD TRUCK QUICK BITE: MOBOWL....NO LARRY OR CURLY HERE...HANGING AT GFOOD TRUCK LOUNGE
Earlier this year a new food truck park opened it's doors (gates?) just down the road from my abode, it's called the
GFood Truck Lounge. I'd been meaning to try it for sometime now but their hours are just for lunch, which was hard to make not working in the hood and all. But, alas, things change and my new assignment has crap days off, though they are during the week which at least now afforded me the opportunity to stop by and check the place out.
It's a long narrow space with about 5 trucks and beer/other drinks building thing at the back. Oh, and did I mention it's directly under the freeway? Yeah, that's right, under a bridge/on ramp. Which is great when it rains, but it is LOUD. So if you can get past that part you'll be fine. The picture above is a bit deceiving because it does get crowded in the space. And while there are some places to sit there aren't really enough to go around and it looked like many folks come by, get food and leave. Me I decided to just brave the noise, pick a truck and hang out.
Since there weren't many choices and I had already tried 2 of the trucks I ended up zeroing in on something called
MoBowl--meals in a bowl to go--how appropriate.
The menu is one of those choose a base--rice, noodles, fries--choose a meat--choose a sauce--choose a side--all for $10. In the world of food trucks and pricing it sounded reasonable to me so I stepped up to the window and made my choices.
I got seasoned fries with the five spice pulled pork (of course) and a side salad. Though I could have gotten more fries as a side but, you know, it seemed like too many carbs all at once, I wanted to feel I was eating somewhat healthy. I'm going to break this down into parts to cover. The fries were served hot and fresh out of the fryer, which is good cause when you plop wet meat on them they can get soggy quickly. There was a little bit of that here but not as bad you might think and I did like the fries and the seasoning, sort of like curly fries seasoning only saltier, something I didn't mind. The pulled pork was tender though stringy and a bit on the greasy side. The five spice was very Middle Eastern vibe--cumin, turmeric kind of thing. I'm not sure I really liked the flavor combo plus, it too was on the salty side. Combine that with the fries and I'm gonna say for most folks it's a sodium overload. I got the spicy pepper sauce drizzled over and that I did like, it would make a really good dip for just the fries. The salad was a mixed greens affair with red onions, carrots and cucumbers with something they called an SEA dressing. I'm guessing that stands for Southeast Asian as it was sort of a spicy sweet vinaigrette thing going on--decent, though unspectacular.
Did I finish everything off? Yes, partly I was really hungry. But as I sat there listening to the cars overhead I ruminated a bit on what I had and still felt--hungry--I could say unfulfilled but that just seems so tragic--though I am eating out of a truck under a freeway overpass. The more I thought about the not really a bowl I was like--there was a handful of fries, about 6 ounces of meat and roughly an ounce or two of salad. Was it really worth $10? Yeah it had some interesting spices and flavors, yes I liked the fries, things were a bit salty and afterward I was still hungry. Pluses and minuses, but there wasn't anything that made me go--"wow that was really good"--more like "it was okay". I'd be more comfortable recommending this at $8, as is, I'm kind of iffy.
Yeah, I know, not much help, but if you want a suggestion, I'd say just get an order of the French fries and a side of the spicy white sauce for dipping. If nothing else it would be a good side dish to something else from another truck or just have the fries to go and enjoy them somewhere without the revving engines and freeway exhaust.