food truck quick bite: jojo's mojo at spark social sf in mission bay

Sep 17

Sep 17 food truck quick bite: jojo's mojo at spark social sf in mission bay

A.W.

There's a new food truck park in town and it's within walking distance to my abode!! Isn't that the best news ever! Or at least until something better comes along. Anyway, the folks from SOMA StrEat Food Park have expanded their empire with Spark Social SF in Mission Bay.

It's just a hop, skip and jump over the bridge and around the corner to get to. I've been watching it progress (slowly) since they started building it. Now it is open and as you can see by the photos above, it is a little more unique and not quite so--slap-dashed together as the SOMA version. "Not that there's anything wrong with that." But this one does have a distinctly different look and feel. The other big difference is there is no heated indoor seating area. We'll see if that changes as the fog winds blow colder. The do have heat lamps and a couple fire pits, so it's not totally chill there. For now, it's a nice space to go hang out and grab a bite to eat.

Me and the SO hit the place up one Sunday afternoon on a non-game day before all the bustling crowds, which made it easy to peruse the 6 or so trucks positioned around the middle seating area. A couple I'd eaten at before and a couple I hadn't, so it was nice having new options. After one trip around the choices I settled on Jojo's Mojo, offering Korean fusion.

Korean style burritos, tacos, salads, rice bowls, quesadillas, etc. I felt like eating somewhat healthy on this day and opted to go for the Korean salad bowl to avoid rice, bread and potatoes.

Spring mix greens, carrots, cucumbers, cabbage, pickled daikon, fried egg, spicy ginger dressing and your choice of meet. Of course I'm going with the bulgogi beef. It's like a Korean steak and egg with salad dish. It's a very colorful and pretty dish to look at. Lots of fresh green veggie things gave it some crunch. The beef was tender and flavorful with notes of soy and garlic. The egg added some yolky richness. It's covered in "Jojo sauce" which is kind of like a sriracha bbq sauce, had a real nice punch to it. All together, the flavors are very bold and makes a nice combo.

That's not to say it didn't have a couple issues. The biggest was the meat they put on top was more lukewarm to cold. Hot it been temperature hot, it could have been even better. The egg was also on the cold side and probably could have used a minute or more on the grill as it still had a bit of the clear viscous egg on top. Combined with semi-cold yolk, made it a little challenging if you got a big piece by itself. This bowl also set me back $12. Kind of seemed like a lot when you can get a rice bowl at quickie spots or trucks around town in the $8-$10 range.

Considering the good and bad opposites in this bowl, I'd recommend it with a couple caveats. Make sure your meat and egg are hot and fresh off the grill, it will make the flavors even brighter. And if you don't mind the price, then this offering is probably worth checking out for you.

I might eat my way back around to Jojo's in the future, bur for now, I'm just happy there's a new place near me I can walk to for a quick bite to eat from an array of choices. As long as it's not cold and foggy and windy and rainy. Then I'll stay home and order in, the SO's always up for pizza.