In the U.S., we eat our burgers on fluffy, puffy, white-flour buns. Apparently in Japan, they prefer rice buns. Which are not so much "buns" as they are "patties" made from handfuls of long-grained rice, formed into White Castle-like squares. At the food truck Marked5, they're quickly cooked on a grill until they're tannish-brown, and then used to support slabs of Angus beef marinated in torraku ("truck") sauce – teriyaki with a fiery overlay of peppers – along with pork katsu, tofu burgers and piles of chicken curry. There are shrimp spring rolls and shrimp chips and fried lotus root as well as Japanese soft drinks (which look like bottles filled with melted crayons) to wash it all down. For dessert, there's Pocky – pastry sticks coated with sweet, crunchy things. The Marked5 truck journeys through the streets of LA – and in turn takes us on a journey to Roppongi and Shibucho. To find the truck, check www.marked5.com and twitter.com/Marked5.

Published on Nov. 19, 2009 at 3:17 PM in Trend Watch

The Buttermilk Truck may bring to mind images of buttermilk served in dozens of outré flavors, but, mercifully, its actual menu is a lot more conventional. The buttermilk biscuit breakfast sandwich piles on cheese, a fried egg and a choice of tocino, applewood-smoked bacon or chicken apple sausage, and comes accompanied by rosemary garlic hash browns. There are also breakfast sliders on Hawaiian bread, and an intimidating creation called the Buttermilk Brick (hash browns, two eggs over-easy, a buttermilk biscuit and housemade chorizo gravy). For the record, the smiling lad on the side of the truck is named "Klippy." You can figure out where he'll be by going to Twitter or to www.buttermilktruck.com.

Published on Nov. 12, 2009 at 5:02 PM in Trend Watch

When you consider the number of roadside stands that pepper the Deep South, it's no surprise to find a food truck that's managed the seemingly impossible concept of fried-chicken-on-wheels. The workers in the truck must be driven totally bonkers by the fine aromas arising from their grills and deep-fryers – how they resist constant temptation is a mystery to me. And there's much temptation to resist, for Mattie's offers everything from catfish tacos to pulled pork sandwiches...chicken 'n' cheese biscuits to one of the gooiest mac 'n' cheeses in town. It even offers genuine Southern-style sweet tea, which is essentially a glass of sugar moistened with tea, a demi-beverage to gladden the heart of anyone from south of Mason-Dixon. For locations, go to Twitter and Facebook – or the soon-to-functional mattiessouthernkitchen.blogspot.com.

Published on Nov. 5, 2009 at 3:52 PM in Deals and Events

With so many food trucks using Twitter these days, keeping track of all those tweets can make your head spin. But by utilizing Twitter's new lists feature, we've made the truckin' life a little easier. With 26 food trucks and counting, our LA Food Trucks list is your one-stop shop for street-meat tweets. Want a little more background about the trucks? Check out our Food Trucks of the Week.

Published on Nov. 2, 2009 at 2:36 PM in Trend Watch

The truck is a shade of pink worthy of local billboard icon Angelyne, with a graphic of a happy, seraphic-winged porker sailing through the clouds on the side. The owners are "Cordon Bleu dreamers" who are working out their dreams in pork – sandwiches of braised pork belly with red onion escabeche and beef and pork sliders with "banana mustard" on soft buns. There are tacos filled with grilled beef short ribs with "death sauce," spicy pork with cilantro cream sauce, tamarind duck with pickled beet salad, smoked chicken with green curry and crunchy tofu with kimchi. Oddly, there are crab balls. Not so oddly, there are "Flying Pig Fries" with a black-garlic aioli sauce. In this case, pigs really do fly. Go to http://flyingpigtruck.com and Twitter (natch) for details.

Published on Oct. 29, 2009 at 3:33 PM in Trend Watch

It was inevitable that the Too Hot Tamales – Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken – would hop on the food-truck bandwagon. Their Border Grill Truck serves the modern Mexican/Pan-Latino cooking of their Santa Monica and Las Vegas Border Grills and, not surprisingly, does it in a sustainable manner, using seasonal, locally grown ingredients, organic long-grain rice and beans, and seafood approved by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program (which means no tuna or swordfish). And though it mostly offers upscale versions of the dishes long served by the city's many Mexican food trucks – tacos, quesadillas – none of those trucks offers cumin-flavored fries with chipotle ketchup. See a sample menu here. Follow the truck on Twitter or Facebook.

Published on Oct. 22, 2009 at 3:21 PM in Trend Watch

When you get down to it, skewers are about as food truck–friendly as food can be. They can be made in massive quantities and cooked quickly and easily. Nor is serving them labor intensive – none of the careful, slightly obsessive assemblage of a sandwich or burrito. When they're done, they're done...and when they're ready, they're ready. In the case of Skewers on Wheels, there's a collection of nearly two dozen skewers, about half of which are on the truck at any given time. It always has carne asada, chicken breast with green bell peppers, chicken thigh with green onions, meatballs and sausage skewers.

Published on Oct. 16, 2009 at 5:39 PM in Trend Watch

When you consider that the streets of India are packed – jammed! – with food carts selling dozens of fast food items, the appearance of a food truck specializing in the cooking of the subcontinent isn't much of a surprise. It's also not surprising to find that the chef behind the India Jones Chow Truck is the ubiquitous Sumant Pardal, creator of Cal-Indian cooking and a restaurateur with a dozen former locations on his resume – remember East India Grill? In this case, he's specializing in the cooking of the Punjab region, including the Indian equivalent of the burrito – the frankie – a paratha wrapped around a variety of meats, cheeses and sauces. He offers plenty of curries as well. But do be warned – if you spill the food on your clothing while doing your street eating, it may leave permanent stains. Indian food is like that. For more information, go to www.indiajoneschowtruck.com or Twitter.

Published on Oct. 8, 2009 at 4:04 PM in Trend Watch

The closest that rolling gastropub The Gastro Bus comes to beer is its root beer float. Otherwise, it's BYOB for fans of this farmer's market driven food truck. Created by caterer Antonio Medina and his wife Lana, the Bus is a regular at the Sunday Los Feliz street market, where crowds line up for sweet potato fries with honey mustard ($2.50), shoestring fries with garlic aioli ($2.50), pulled pork sandwich with pickled red onions ($6), smoked bacon sandwich with herb aioli ($6) and more. They're also the caterer for The Gogol Project at the Bootleg Theater during the run of the play (2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles). For information, go to www.thegastrobus.com, and to Twitter.

Published on Oct. 2, 2009 at 1:53 PM in Trend Watch

As our population of food trucks continues to grow, it seems as if every regional dish and cult object of culinary desire will have a rolling outlet of its own. The latest to hit the streets is the South Philly Experience – the creation of South Jersey cousins Jonathan Salvatore and Scott Springfield. Hitting the streets in a truck decorated to look like a brick wall with the Philly skyline on it, the duo offer iconic cheesesteaks with topping options including grilled onions and, yes, Cheez Whiz. Other items include chicken cutlet sandwiches topped with broccoli rabe and roast peppers, roast pork sandwiches, chicken parm and a meatball sub. But it's really the cheesesteaks that keep them truckin'. Oh – and their supply of Tastykakes too. Go to www.southphillyexperience.com or Twitter for info on their whereabouts.

Published on Sep. 24, 2009 at 3:56 PM in Trend Watch

As of this writing, The Grilled Cheese Truck hasn't yet hit the streets. But the blogosphere's food-truck obsessives have been going into a gooey meltdown anticipating the arrival of…melted cheese…on bread! Its website (www.thegrilledcheesetruck.com) promises diet-busters like sammys made with "macaroni and cheese, house-smoked BBQ pork and caramelized onions" and another with "Brie with brown butter apples and fresh herbs." Also on the menu: tomato soup, butter pickles and tater tots. The mind – and the appetite – reel with anticipation. Updates can be found, of course, on Twitter and Facebook.

Published on Sep. 17, 2009 at 5:44 PM in Trend Watch

Yes, we know that the notion of an ecologically conscious catering truck seems a bit... oxymoronic. But the service called Green Truck on the Go has managed it thanks to its solar powered commissary (with extra energy donated to the City of Los Angeles), environmentally friendly cleaning products, and a menu of good, and good for you, dishes. Options include banana pancakes with coconut-agave syrup, vegan breakfast burritos, meatless burgers with goat's milk feta and grilled sesame tofu skewers – there's grilled flank steak, too, for those who fear vegetables. The Green Truck has been used for catering by local media powerhouses like HBO, MTV, CBS, Fox, Sony and CAA. And yes, they've expanded to New York as well. For more info, visit www.greentruckonthego.com.

Published on Sep. 2, 2009 at 6:12 PM in Trend Watch

When I mentioned to my wife – a cautious woman who's a big part of Purell's burgeoning bottom line – that there was a sushi roll truck plying its trade on the summer-hot streets of Los Angeles, she almost screeched with fear. That may not be a particularly abnormal reaction: making sure the fish we eat is properly refrigerated seems deeply entwined in the survival section of our DNA.

Published on Aug. 27, 2009 at 5:25 PM in Trend Watch

For those of us who grew up waiting for tanklike refrigerated trucks selling Bungalow Bars and Good Humor Bars (and, later, Carvel and Mister Softee), the Coolhaus truck is proof that everything comes full circle.

Published on Aug. 20, 2009 at 1:34 PM in Trend Watch

• – Bruni looks back on the guests he took to dinner. [NYT]
• – Related: how a food critic keeps off the pounds. [Men's Health]
• – Hong Kong looks to tea. [Bloomberg]
• – Behind the Fiji Water curtain. [Mother Jones, via Accidental Hedonist]

Published on Aug. 19, 2009 at 11:50 AM in Dining News Elsewhere