This was published 1 year ago
San Francisco food trucks: How to find the city's cult four-wheeled eats
By Paul Chai
xxsanfrancisco Images supplied by Off the Grid Handout images for Traveller
It is fitting that I am seated in Levi Strauss Plaza in San Francisco given that I am about to pop a button on my very own Levi jeans. The pile of food in front of me is nothing short of daunting but I am being treated to the greatest hits of three food trucks parked opposite by Off the Grid marketing manager Renee Frojo.
This passion for food trucks is something San Francisco shares with Melbourne, as well as the newly relaunched direct flights from United Airlines, but, with apologies to my hometown, American food trucks are really something else and that is thanks in part to Frojo and her team helping to promote and improve the four-wheel restaurant offerings.
Off the Grid manages and promotes more than 300 trucks and food businesses in the Bay Area as well as a series of events and regular food truck parks. They even look after a roster of food trucks you can find parked at the San Francisco International Airport.
xxsanfrancisco Images supplied by Off the Grid Handout images for Traveller
It has been a tough couple of years, however, as huge food truck gatherings were shut down at the height of the pandemic but they restarted again recently after two years.
"We have lunch markets, we have little community markets that are anywhere from seven to 10 trucks around the Bay Area and those were maintained throughout the pandemic," Frojo says.
"We were able to keep those open because they were small and they are all outside so that was some of the safest pandemic dining you could do, but our bigger markets like Fort Mason Centre we had to stop for two years and they were our most popular events bringing anything from 5000 to 8000 people every Saturday."
xxsanfrancisco Images supplied by Off the Grid Handout images for Traveller
The Fort Mason market restarted recently with more than 7000 hungry visitors in attendance.
I am dining with Frojo at a small lunchtime market with just three trucks: Hula Truck, Curveball Slider Truck and Momo Noodle.
Hula is a riot of colour. The truck is covered in a hula girl mural and it serves up Pacific Island food by way of northern California. We have chosen a signature BayRitto, kalua pork cooked in an imu (underground oven) wrapped in a flour tortilla with tater tots, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, sour cream and a secret Hula verde sauce.
Take note Melbourne trucks, there is no such thing as too much. The pork is smoky, the tater tots crunchy and the tart verde sauce is like a fresh bay breeze.
From Curveball we have two classic sliders, custom-ground beef grind with beer-braised pork belly, American cheese, grilled onions, chipotle mayo and truck-made barbecue sauce – and they may be called sliders but they are the size of a standard Australian burger.
Momo's signature offering is a spicy noodle originating from the Szechuan region with ground pork. It is rich and hot, sinfully oily and may well be the best dish in a very tight field.
The quality of the trucks is something Off the Grid is proud of and it is an ongoing process.
"We keep onboarding new trucks every month," says Frojo. "For every truck that closed during the pandemic new ones have opened so there has been a real growth and fusion of new creative businesses.
"To be part of Off the Grid the food has to be delicious but, in addition to that, they have to a really good-looking truck, they have to meet cleanliness standards and they have to have a fast pace of service, when you are serving 5000-9000 people per night you have to be on top of that."
Frojo says they have monthly tastings to vet new additions.
"We have these tryouts and we invite super fans as well as some press and influencers," she says. "We give the trucks that don't make it into the network feedback on how to improve their business and we invite them back in a few months to see if they have improved. Sometimes trucks try out three or four times before they make it in."
Some of Frojo's favourites include The Chairman, a bright red truck that serves up steamed buns from Hiroo Nagahara, an ex-chef of famed US restaurateur Charlie Trotter. She is also seen frequenting Senor Sisig, a Filipino fusion food truck that was a favourite of Anthony Bourdain, and she is also very partial to frozen custard.
It is a wincingly sunny day in the bayside city and, after dividing up our considerable leftovers, Frojo and I part company. She is headed back to work and I am headed back to my hotel for some more forgiving pants.
THE DETAILS
FLY
United's Melbourne to San Francisco direct flight resumed from June 5 and runs three-times weekly with plans to become daily at the end of October. See united.com
EAT
Off the Grid has a regular schedule of food truck markets and weekly events as well as a full list of food trucks they support so you can find them yourselves. See offthegrid.com
Paul Chai was a guest of San Francisco International Airport and United Airlines.
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