LA Street Food Fest (Rose Bowl)

We were among one of the 5000 foodies in LA who participate the LA Street Food fest at Rose bowl last Saturday. It was a great experience and we had a great time. The ticket was $45 (VIP for $65) and was all inclusive for the 60+ food vendors and alcohol and drinks. $45 seems a lot for “bite-size” food and people I know complained about not able to eat anything at the event last year because the lines were so long. I wasn’t there so I didn’t know, but seems like this year they improved in that aspect. The lines to get into the Rose bowl was long when we arrived (roughly at 5:00 pm, the event starts at 5:30 pm), but we got into Rose bowl pretty fast as soon as the door open (less than 10 minutes).

As for lining up for food, we didn’t have much problem with it either. I don’t know how it worked last year, but this year each food vendor featured only one or two things (some have different items at different time of the day) so the line move along pretty fast. And it’s good to go with a big group of friends so different people line up at different vendors and then we all share with each other afterward.

Some of the highlights:

The Asian Fusion Tacos truck Komodo served Miso Beef Skewers. Tasty! I was hoping they would give away their delicious meatballs too (will blog about it later on another entry).

Maggie’s Tatas served Gazpacho, Berries with cream and three mini Fritatas. They specialize in tapas and fritatas for catering and were usually sold at Farmer’s markets. I have to say they’re one of the vendors that give out the most food! And they’re delicious too. The Gazpacho was refreshing and the fritatas were very good! The cream for the Berries with cream has a subtle alcohol flavor, it was wonderful!.

The Gastrobus gave away Plum and cucumber and Ecuadorian ceviche (shrimp with…popcorn!). Very tasty the portion was a little small. Though since their line moves very fast, we went to get our second servings.

Antojitos mi Abuelita was definitely the star of the event for me! They’re a truck based in North Hollywood. They served four kinds of Tacos: green mole, mole, mushroom, huitlacoche (corn fungus), and they’re all AMAZING (and also very generous portion)! Their tacos gotta be one of the most authentic Mexican food I’ve tasted in Los Angeles! I would definitely go seek them out and try their other dishes. They are located at: 6135 Vineland Ave. North Hollywood, CA.  Highly recommended!

From Mo-chica, a gourmet Peruvian restaurant near USC I’ve always wanted to try. They served Causa (tuna over potato) which was just as delicious as how pretty it looks!

From Starry Kitchen, a fusion Asian restaurant in Downtown I have yet to try (my friends highly recommended them during the “Secret North Hollywood based phase”). It looks green but it’s actually fried tofu. I found it so-so, the fried batter was still kind of doughy…perhaps I got a bad one.

Sedthee Thai Eatery is a restaurant from Glendale and it was the other star booth for us. I was blown away by how good their food was and how generous the portion were. The flavors were complex and interesting, and they didn’t tone down the spicy-ness. The Pork Sparerib was phenomenal! The other two are Curry Duck and Shrimp Noodle and BBQ Pork. They also won the Best Nouveau award of the event, well deserved! I’m glad to know about this place from the event…a visit is coming up.

A truck from Camarena tequila, featured mini size tequila-infused tacos. You can really tasted the tequlia in the meat! They also had a station next to it serving tequila cocktails but the line was very long. There were many other tequila tasting in the festival so you could get pretty wasted.

From Fresh Fries Truck: sweet potato fries with nutella and peanut butter and regular fries with green chili guacamole with sour cream.

From Crepe n’ Around: Maple Braised Pork Crepe with Apple Chutney, Toasted Walnuts, Mixed Greens, Honey-Dijon Sauce Wow so good! The pork was very tender and the sauce is unusual: a wonderful mix of fruity, sweet and savory. I’d love to visit this truck everyday!

While waiting for the ever long Maggie Tata’s, we grabbed gelato from Scoops Westside. There’s also the S’more Cupcake from Tiara Cafe, it was so good! People kept going back getting them.

We also got ice-cream sandwiches and lots of juices. Everyone in our group got plenty of food and was very full by the end of it. There were so many other trucks we didn’t get to try! We probably miss some good ones but it’s simply impossible to eat them all. I’m really glad the whole event wasn’t as much as an ordeal as some people claimed it was last year.  Though it is important to try to go with a group. It’s a lot easier to line up next to each other at different vendors and then share!

Tags: Street Food