Some months ago, Matt Cohen, a once-aspiring street food entrepreneur himself, started the San Francisco Cart Project. I met him for the first time at the recent La Cocina event in December. I’ve been waiting for the right moment to run our interview, and I figured today was as good as any, given that it’s just in the wake of the SF Mobile Cart Vendor happy hour last night at Rye Bar on Geary.

1) What’s SF Cart Project all about? I read: “This site is intended to be an affordable resource for new and existing businesses to find the basic information needed to start a mobile catering business in the Bay Area.” on your site. Are you a business? A nonprofit? Just a guy who likes to help out street food vendors? How is this related to Tabetrucks.com ?

It is an effort to create a centralized resource of regional and national mobile vending services for both new and existing vendors to find information on permitting, purchasing, licensing, cart/truck design, social media and business services.

Is this part of my consulting business, or just a hobby for someone that loves street food? Both. I am certainly trying to construct a helpful resource for answering many questions of potential clients who feel that they want to do their own research, or for people who are just considering entering the street food business but don’t want to hire someone to assist them. Longer term, it could turn into something else, if it could sustain itself. Right now, I am focused on just trying to compile as much helpful information as I can in positive and constructive way.

2) How do you see these newer Internet carts/trucks as being an extension of existing trucks? What’s your favorite local non-Twitter truck/cart? What should I order there?

The space restrictions of truck/cart service lends itself to producing a limited menu of products. The best trucks have always been the ones that specialize in one area, at a reasonable price. And those (mainly taco trucks) have been the ones to raise the bar and show customers that these mobile businesses aren’t roach coaches. The most successful new trucks/carts have just capitalized on that same artisanal spirit of limiting the scope of their menu in favor of quality, while telling a compelling story with the products they serve.

I’m a big fan of any elote that I come across. I just love them.

3) Not to rain on your parade or anything, but why would I give you $35 for this PDF file when I can download them, presumably for free from the city/county websites, no?

The intention of offering the documents on the website is to give people one resource where they can get both the code and the applications for the entire spectrum of the permit process in one shot. I am not shy about referring people to the primary documents and the appropriate websites where they can find this information for free (in addition to offering them for free viewing on the site).

So then why would someone pay for them? 1) Time. They get everything in one packet without having to travel down to each city department to collect these documents, many of which are only available in person. 2) Curating. Wading through hundreds of pages of code might be interesting for some people, but I figured others would appreciate getting everything at once so that they could focus on more important things; like their business plan. 3) Cost. To go to SF Health, Fire, Police Departments (for one hour each) is going to cost between 8-10$ in parking meter fees alone ( not to mention the inevitable 53$ parking ticket). 4) Supporting the site. A lot of this information hasn’t been assembled in this way before, and I hope that some people will be appreciative of the effort as the site expands. This is not meant to be a get rich quick scheme, but it would be nice to be able to cover some basic costs.

4) What’s your opinion on the statewide trend of increased regulation of street food and taco trucks?

I fundamentally feel that Street Food is here to stay. While a lot of local municipalities first reactions to an increased presence of street food vendors is to view them as a threat to existing brick and mortar businesses (their primary tax base), others are beginning to recognize that there is a way that street food can offer a really valuable service to specific markets, at specific times of day, where the capital investment of opening and maintaining a permanent restaurant isn’t justified.

That said, individual California municipal regulations in this area are a nightmare. From construction of these vehicles, to permitting standards, to commissary requirements; everything is stacked against small entrepreneurs finding an easy path to starting a business. There’s movement here, but I think that it is going to require community action and effort. The San Francisco Cart Project’s main goal is to provide primary source documents associated with the code so that entrepreneurs can be full informed regarding their options.

5) Where/what should I eat tonight? And what beer should I wash it down with?

If you haven’t had the Okonomiaki from Namu down at the Thursday Ferry Plaza Market you should try it. I lived in Japan for 3 years and it is my favorite in the Bay Area. From an non street food direction?: The Moules Frite at Chez Maman on Potrero Hill washed down with a Kronenberg is exceptional.

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So the other day, Michael Brewer, contacted me to tell me about his new iPhone app: Taco Loco (”Taco as in taco. Loco as in locate.”). I was thrilled, and immediately sent a message out on Twitter. At a $1 (less than the price of most tacos!), how could I refuse? I fired off my questions and lo, he responded. (He also reminded me that his brother Patrick, of Raleigh, N.C., contributed work on the app, too.)

1) How’d you come to make this app?

1) I’m a foodie. I love eating at local restaurants and trying out cuisine from different ethnicities. The taco truck culture is basically the perfect intersection of these two interests – it’s tough to get more local than food off a truck. So, when we were looking for an iPhone project to start, this seemed like a logical fit because of the iPhone’s great location awareness. We were surprised there wasn’t already an app filling this need given the popularity of taco trucks in California!

2) Where do you draw your data from? How’d you input it? Can people add new ones? What territory do you cover?

2) The initial locations that we launched with were drawn from a number of different places. Many of them were entered by our beta testers and we scoured the Internet for locations mentioned in forums, Twitter, Flickr, etc. We launched the app with a few hundred locations. I read somewhere that there is an estimated 14,000 in Los Angeles alone, so there are plenty more to find.

Since the launch we’ve seen a good response from people entering their favorite vendors. We even had Jay from gunsandtacos.com offer up his excellent list of Houston taco trucks shortly after he downloaded and started using Taco Loco.

Giving people the power to enter new spots is very important for tracking something that is transient like street food vendors. Taco Loco also gives people the ability to move a vendor from one point on the map to their current location so that as a taco truck moves through-out the day or over a week the data will be fresh.

We haven’t placed any boundaries on where people can enter new spots. We’d love to see people in Germany entering their favorite döner kebab or currywurst vendors, or people in France adding places to get crêpes (aka the French taco).

3) What’s your programming/taco truck background? What are your favorite taco trucks and iPhone apps? Where do you live?

3) We’re IT guys with a variety of application development experience who love the iPhone for its ease of use and power as a smartphone. Our taco truck background is purely as customers. We live in North Carolina and our favorite taco trucks are Rico Scopes in the RTP area and an unnamed one run by a guy named Juan near Charlotte. Harvest Moon Grille is also a great gourmet food trailer that operates in and around Charlotte — it’s run by farmers and they source all of their ingredients from their own farm or other local farms.

As far as iPhone apps go, we’re inspired by the beautiful work the Tapbots guys do. I’m replying to your mail using their new app called Pastebot. Tweetie and Twitterrific are our Twitter clients of choice. Ramp Champ (beautiful) and Flight Control (addictive) are our favorite games. I also highly recommend that your readers check out Harvest which is a great aid for selecting and storing fruits and vegetables.

4) How many people have downloaded it so far?

4) We did a soft launch and are just now starting to promote the app. We have over 300 downloads as of today. The tweet you sent after discovering us accounts for our largest sales day yet. Thanks!

5) What’s next for you?

5) We have a long roadmap planned for Taco Loco and are eager to release more features in the near future. We’re also reaching out to vendors to get their ideas on how we can best help them.

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Grill ‘Em All is one of Los Angeles’ bad-assiest food trucks. Founded by Ryan Harkins and Matthew Chernus, this hard rock-themed truck will launch this coming Saturday at 1640 North Spring Street in Chinatown. The two gents were kind enough to answer my queries.

1) So what’s a gourmet burger? Aren’t burgers the great working man’s food? Is there such a thing as gourmet rock n’ roll?

Matt: Gourmet is just the easiest way to say awesome. Our burgers are completely out-of-the-box when it comes to the normal burger recipe. We have burgers doused in toppings like fennel sausage gravy, cranberry gastriques, and lemon pepper crème fiache. But those are fancy words that simply mean they taste good.

Gourmet Rock and roll would probably be the working mans band which are Thin Lizzy and AC/DC, respectively.

Ryan: Doesn’t Manowar work very hard?

Matt: You’re right, they almost work too hard. Take a break already! But I guess that’s the price you pay for being the loudest band in the world. Ryan is a working man, but don’t ask his dad about that.

2) What else is on the menu? Sides? Drinks? Secret items I get if I do a pinwheel while ordering?

Ryan: As long as your not scissor kicking and karate moshing your way through the line, you will get the best damn burger made in the name of heavy metal you have ever eaten.

Matt: Yeah, none of that youth crew style moshing, we keep it real metal. Only old school mosh moves will be tolerated. We have hand rolled tator tots and fresh cut fries doused in truffle oil like a baby at baptism.

Ryan: I like my burgers like I like my metal: heavy and full of surprises.

Matt. Oh yeaaaaah.

3) Where will you be operating? Why get a truck? Was it tough/expensive to get set up?

Ryan: We will be operating wherever the people want us. Drop us a line and tell us why we should come to you! We got our truck, I’m sorry… our chariot, cuz trucks are badass and fun to drive, the same reason some hesher buys a Pontiac firebird. It’s tough, and inexpensive.

Matt: You both used the word operating which reminds me of the best metal tour ever: Operation Rock and Roll. Remember? Motorhead, Priest, Metal Church and Dangerous Toys were all booked to on the same package? How one stage contained all that rock is beyond me.

4) What are your favorite non-Twittering taco trucks in LA?

Matt: If you live in Echo Park this is a no brain answer: TACO ZONE! Park at Vons, crack a forty of cheap beer and order a taco. Then eat the taco and take a sip. Then order another one post haste, buddy.

Ryan: I must say, this is one of Matt and my favorite places to frequent. We take Pirate Pride up to the Vons parking lot, buy a sixer and indulge in the beauty that is buche and suadero tacos, going sip for bite in the Vons parking lot. Just don’t tell the cops that.

5) Will eating at Grill Em All make me feel as bad-ass as when I play Rock Band?

Matt: God, I hope it makes you feel way more bad-ass then when you play a video game. It should make you feel like you could climb the tallest mountain, slay the biggest dragon and then take the longest nap.

Ryan: What he said.

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Mattie’s Southern Kitchen recently opened in LA, and while I haven’t had a chance to sample its wares, I thought I’d check in with Chris Rattican, the brains behind this operation.

1) Who’s Mattie? And what’s on the menu? What’s your background with Southern food? And what defines it for you?

Mattie’s Southern Kitchen is named after Mattie Bradsher. Mattie Bradsher worked as a housekeeper for my family during my 22 years in North Carolina.

Mattie was a southern black woman who taught me a lot about acceptance. Growing up in the South in the early 80’s, racist thought was never too far away. Thanks to Mattie and my parents the idea of hate based on skin color just never made any sense to me.

I could go on all day about how much Mattie means to me and the lessons she taught me, but I’ll get to the cooking part.

As a child, I would watch her cook. She would make biscuits stuffed with salty Smithfield ham. She filled handmade pie crusts with homegrown apples and then fried them up in butter. She set the bar for every piece of fried chicken I have ever eaten. I try with every piece of chicken I fry to duplicate it. And though I’ve come close, I never will.

Mattie’s menu is constantly changing. The staples are fried chicken, Eastern Carolina pulled pork, shrimp n’ grits, buttermilk biscuits, mac & cheese, collard greens and catfish & shrimp po boys. We sometimes offer jambalaya, gumbo and red beans & rice. When we hit the streets for late night, we offer other southern snacks like hush puppies and fried pickles.

2) What’s your background in food/cooking/eating? How’d this truck thing start for you? What are your favorite non-Twittering trucks?

2) I have never had any formal culinary training. Since I was a young kid I liked to cook. The day I learned to melt cheese on a hot dog in the microwave was the day I started to really dig cooking and I just continued wanting to learn more.

For the last eight years I have cooked a Southern feast for my friends to eat while watching the UNC-Duke basketball game. The small gathering of friends took on a life of its own and now over 50 folks usually show up. Every year folks fuss at me to open a restaurant. So I figured I’d try this truck thing out to see if those folks were just being polite or if people truly dug my grub.

Non-twittering trucks. Man, I don’t even know anything going on with any other truck but mine right now. I don’t mean that in a pretentious way at all. What I mean is that we have a very small team, and if I’m not sleeping, I’m working. So I’m not familiar with any of the names of the non-twittering trucks.

3) Where’d you get the truck? What did it take to get it all set up and ready? What’s the hardest thing about driving the truck besides parallel parking?

3) The truck is surprisingly easy to drive. Sure, it takes some getting used to, but its not really that bad. You just have to pay attention because it doesn’t react quite as fast as a car.

4) What’s the best thing on the menu?

4) I don’t really know what he best thing on the menu is. The fried chicken plate is great because you get to try a couple of sides like mac n cheese and collard greens (which take two days to prepare). But you also get two sides with the barbecue plate which is eastern Carolina style pulled pork meaning it is cooked for over 10 hours and tossed in a vinegar based sauce. But if you’ve never tried shrimp n’ grits before…well, your just missing out on one of life’s finer treats. Oh, and biscuits are wonderful for breakfast, lunch, super or late night.

5) Do you serve sweet tea?

5) Wonderful question. The answer is yes. Though some days we don’t have time to prepare it, we are able to have about 20 gallons (or enough for about 5 guys) of it at any one time.

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A reader, Terry Wunder, just sent me this email:

“This past Saturday I went to six LA food trucks in one afternoon (Barbie’s Q, Cool Haus, Little Spoon, Kogi BBQ, Lomo Arigato, and The Flying Pig), made a video for it, and wrote an accompanying article with photos. The article/our mission was comparing the diverse field of LA food trucks against the fad originator Kogi BBQ. There are interviews with the owners of each truck and plenty of info about the food.”

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There’s more than just Kogi, Calbi and Lomo Arigato when it comes to LA Asian fusion. LA Fuxion was founded earlier this summer and serves up a “new eclectic mix of Latin Asian Fusion food.” I pinged Giselle Palencia, one of the co-owners, for some details. Also, this appears to be the first taco truck I’ve ever seen with TVs mounted on the side.

1) Get me beyond your marketing copy. What is “the perfect marriage of flavors and styles by blending Korean, Chinese, Japanese, and Latin American herbs and spices” ? How’d you come up with your menu? How’d you get started? Who is behind this operation, anyway?

My partner Mindy is Asian and I am Latina we are the operating people. Funny…. we don’t yet know what is the perfect marriage. We are still researching for a better taste. We came up with the popular Asian dish already known and wrapped them with Latin wraps and added Latin sauces.

2) When did you start? How do you pick your routes? Where do you operate? How much does Twitter help you choose where you’ll be?

Started 5 months ago we operate in city streets. We get request from people to go to different location.Twitter does help but our customers are mostly repeating customers.

3) What’s the best and hardest thing about operating from a truck? Where’d you get your truck, anyway? Do you rent or buy?

The best thing is that you don’t need as much money to start as opening a restaurant. The hardest thing is that we are subject to so many irregularities. We got our truck from Westcoast Catering.

4) What other LA trucks (nouveau and/or classic) do you like? When’s the best time to go to a truck?

Of course, we enjoy our food the best! honestly here in our team, we all have different tastes and we enjoy many of other different trucks. The best time to come is when we are open. Check our website for operating hours and locations.

5) How do I pronounce your menu items, like Xuna and Xen? How do I pronounce Fuxion, anyway?

The “Xuna” is read like “Suna”, “Xen” is read like “Sen”, and Fuxion like Fusion. Give a little more hiss when you say the X. Read it like how you normal read X sounds like xylophone.

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Coolhaus is probably the most unique of all of the LA nouveau food trucks that I’ve heard of. They sell architecturally-themed ice cream sandwiches with fun names like Frank Behry and Mintimalism. One of the truck’s two founders, Natasha Case, took some time out of her busy schedule to respond to a few questions.

1) So really, what’s Coolhaus all about? Are you guys just big architecture nerds or what? Are you architects yourselves?

Coolhaus is the first project under the Farchitecture (food + architecture) umbrella. Farchitecture actually has academic roots – while Natasha was at UCLA Architecture Grad School, she did an independent study class exploring the relationship between food and design. Coolhaus is the first attempt at marrying the two through the use of mobile food (becoming everyone’s local restaurant despite the urban sprawl of LA), edible wrappers (questioning the “building envelope” and practicing sustainable eating by consuming the wrapper rather than throwing it away), and introducing Architects/Architectural themes into the mainstream dialogue (by naming the sandwiches after them). And yes, we are big nerds. Natasha is an Architect and Freya is a Real Estate Developer.

2) What the heck does architecture have to do with ice cream sandwiches anyway?

I think the real question is, why the heck not?! Visually and literally, the ice cream sandwich has a similar structure to a house: there is a cookie slab, ice cream walls, and a cookie (shed) roof. Ice cream also has such universal appeal, and we really enjoy using ice cream to deconstruct flavors ie we are coming out with a “breakfast sandwich” which is made of brown butter bacon ice cream between waffle slabs. The ice cream sandwich seemed like a perfect vehicle/product for our first Farchitecture project.

3) How do you make them? What makes an ideal ice cream sandwich? What’s your background in food/cooking/eating? How’d you decide to start this?

Lots of experimentation and taste testing! We started out making all the cookies and ice cream “in-haus,” but because we’ve grown so fast, we have outsourced our recipes to companies that pride themselves in using all-natural ingredients (ie, Milk) who makes our ice cream.

I think an ideal ice cream sandwich is definitely made-to-order, freshly created on the spot and custom-built according to the customer’s desires (custom creations have a more architectural sensibility). The sandwiches have soft cookies that aren’t too thick or too sweet that it overpowers the ice cream taste; in between is a hunky scoop of ice cream that is soft enough to compress. The variety of flavors range from extra rich and creamy, to subtle red wine reduction flavor, to light and fruity sorbets…something for everyone!

4) Has Frank Gehry ever showed up to try Frank Behry? What would happen if he did?

Funny you should ask! We actually went to Gehry partners a few weeks back and Frank Gehry had a sandwich, but not the Frank Behry. He actually decided upon the Orange Julius Shulman (I think he may have a bit of a dairy problem).

I wasn’t there for the event, but I hear he cut the line and demanded to have his sandwich made very quickly! Oh, Mr. Behry.

5) What’s your favorite food/taco truck in LA?

Besides ours? Hmmm…I know Freya loves Taco Zone (I’ve never actually tried it! yikes!). We both love the Green Truck and the Border Grill Truck!

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I was contacted out of the blue by Akash Kapoor, of Curry Up Now, a new Indian taco truck based in Burlingame, Calif. (near SFO airport, in San Mateo County). I haven’t had the pleasure yet of trying its wares, but boy does it sound good!

1) What’s Curry Up Now all about? How’d you get started? What’s your background in food/cooking/eating?

Curry Up Now is essentially authentic Indian street food served on the street, where it belongs. We have mixed in some burritos and tacos in the menu to keep the spirit of a lonchera.

We originally thought about this 10 years ago but other business interests kept us from getting started. Seeing the success of Kogi and other ethnic trucks in SoCal, rekindled the idea and three to four months later, here we are. We have absolutely no background in the food business. We are foodies who have a passion for cooking and sharing.

2) What trucks have been your inspiration? Why start a truck, anyway? What are your favorite local trucks and why?

The success of Kogi and other trucks in LA have been a huge inspiration.

Since our focus is Indian street food, we wanted it to be just that, street food served from a truck.

Believe it or not, we haven’t eaten from a truck, local or anywhere else as yet. One of our associates tried the Kung Fu taco truck in the city and had good things to say about them. I plan on visiting them, Liba SF and El Tonayense soon.

3) What’s been the permit process like? I see you’re operating in San Mateo County, not San Francisco. Is that any easier/harder? Is that a deliberate decision?

The permit process has been brutal. The San Mateo County permit was a breeze but most Peninsula cities have been unwelcoming. This is due to unlicensed trucks all over El Camino Real from Daly City to Mountain View. However, we are hoping Burlingame, Foster City and Belmont will work things out with us. Burlingame has been most helpful and have allowed us to be out on a weekend to weekend basis as of now. We should have the Redwood City permit in a few days as well.

Our truck is in the shop this week to be readied for Santa Clara and San Francisco permits. We will be in the city and South Bay within 3 weeks. We wanted to start with the Peninsula and have a truck each in the city, South & East Bay.

4) What’s the best thing on your menu? How did you come up with these specific items? How does what you’re offering differ from traditional Indian street food?

I’d say the chicken kathi, deconstructed samosa with meat & chana and the doubles (from Trinidad & Tobago). The chicken kathi was inspired by frequent visits to Nizam’s, Kolkatta as a kid but we have changed it a little bit. A few people in the family prefer the samosa shell to the filling, thus was born the deconstructed samosa topped with meat keema. We remove the filling from the shell, top it off with chana, meat keema, onions, jalapenos, tamarind & mint/coriander chutney. Doubles is basically chana bhatura Trindiad & Tobago style. chana bhatura figures in the top five favorite Indian street foods and we had to have this on the truck even though its a pain to make on the truck. We have tried to keep this as trini as possible and have been pleasantly surprised with the response. Since the deconstructed samosa is a home grown recipe, I would rate it as the best thing on the menu and it tastes amazing to boot.

Our food is traditional and authentic Indian Street food, however, we have ‘taco truckized’ the menu with burritos and tacos. We will be featuring a curry from a different region of India each month as well.

5) Thums Up or Limca?

None, Pepsi 0 . We will have Limca & Thums Up on the truck along with mango lassi and mint lemonade.

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Just around the time that twittering taco trucks took off, Los Angeles artist Sean Finocchio started doing this series of taco trucks. From his website you can get one for $25 or a pair for $40. I’m *this* close to forking over the money to get a couple. I think they’d look great in my kitchen or bathroom. I hit him up for a query-laden quintet.

1) How did you come up with the idea to do taco truck prints?

I spend a lot of time in my car commuting to and from work. I take a camera with me daily to take pictures. Taco trucks kept showing up and I decided to do a series of them. I had previously done a series of mobile homes. The taco truck series was completed back in the fall of 2008. Most of my artwork is of everyday life in and around Los Angeles. Markets, Liquor stores, alleys, apartment buildings, etc.

2) How are these trucks selected? Where are they located? Are they your favorites?

All of my images are completely random. They are just trucks seen around town. Some were found downtown, Hawthorne, Mar Vista, Venice, Hollywood, etc. Taco Trucks are everywhere in LA. I’ve also changed the names on all of the trucks. I have taken some creative liberties while creating these images. My artwork celebrates the culture of the taco trucks — not necessarily a specific truck.

Full disclosure on the taco truck series — I’ve changed the names on all of the trucks. All the names are fictitious. I didn’t want to exploit these trucks because I realize these are family run trucks (usually) and I did not get their permission when taking the pictures. I didn’t want to get in a legal mess. So — you wont find these exact trucks around town. They do exist, but I don’t remember exactly where they are located. And finally, the red truck and the yellow truck were not actually taco trucks but a fire and rescue truck and a delivery truck. I was looking to complete a set of trucks and needed to find a few more — most of the trucks I came across are all the same shape and I wanted to have some different looking ones.

I’m telling you all of this because your site appears to celebrate specific trucks and I don’t want people to ask you or me what part of town “La Mexicanita” is at on Tuesdays. I’m not trying to be accurate- I’m an artist. My artwork really is just to celebrate the beauty of the taco trucks and the culture — not any truck specifically.

3) How many of them have you sold? Have you ever given/sold to these (or other?) taco trucks?

Taco trucks are pretty popular right now. It has been a happy accident. I’ve sold quite a few of these locally and nationally. People tell me they like them because of their love for LA and their love of taco trucks. I haven’t approached any of theses taco trucks with my artwork. If they were interested in one of my print I would gladly give them one or trade for some tacos.

4) What’s most visually appealing about taco trucks for you?

I’m attracted to the different shapes and colors of the trucks and the artwork on the sides of the trucks. It is a completely random process. I usually spot a cool truck and take a picture from the other side of the road and keep going. Unfortunately I haven’t eaten at any of these trucks.

5) Are you going to do another round, given the new twittering generation of trucks?

I might do a different series in the future. I take pictures daily and I have a bunch of new images that I have taken in the last few months.

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Earlier this summer, a former Wolfgang Puck chef, Antonio Medina, started The Gastrobus, a fun new mobile restaurant roaming the streets of Los Angeles. I hit up Medina for the standard fiver.

1) Gastrobus? Is it really a bus or a truck? How’d you get that going? Why a bus? How’d you convert it?

The Gastrobus is a truck, it just took a paint job and a name to turn it into a school bus. The idea came from the need to work together as a family. The name is a play on words ‘gastro pub’, which is the type of restaurant we wanted. School busses are also cool looking and familiar to everybody.

2) Tell me about yourself. What’s your cooking/food/eating background? What’s the biggest difference cooking in a truck/bus rather than restaurant kitchen?

I have been cooking professionally for the past 7 years, during which I was the Executive Chef for Wolfgang Puck at the Pacific Design Center, worked for catering companies in Hollywood and at a couple of restaurants in the city. The food at the Bus is my take on American gastro pub fare, accentuated by my Latin roots.
Kitchens are kitchens, whether it’s a five star restaurant, a catering company, a pizza joint in the Caribbean or a Bus. I just do my best with I have.

3) Man, root beer floats! I love it! Are those difficult to concoct on a truck? Is there room for a freezer? What kind of ice cream/root beer are you using?

Floats are an American summer classic. We tasted many root beers and ice creams (big brands and microbrews) and nothing beats A&W with homemade vanilla ice cream. There’s no freezer in this truck, but we know how to keep things cool at The Gastrobus.

4) How’d you pick your menu items? What’s the difference between the regular menu items and the Los Feliz Farmer’s Market menu items? What are the specials and how do we find out about them?

The menu looks really simple, but all the items have been thought thru, from the bread to the garnishes, each component adds some flavor/texture to them. “Organic Sundays” is our new project at Farmers Markets, and is completely improvised each time. Sunday mornings we shop at the market and whip up small plates using the best local produce that the farmers bring. It is a very interesting approach to the “market-driven” concept that some restaurants have. Check out the website for menus, bus stops and our latest creations at the Farmers Market. Or follow us on twitter (@thegastrobus).

5) What are your favorite food/taco trucks in LA?
Coolhaus! They have the best sweets on the road.

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