Popping My Nouveau Food Truck Cherry With The Nom Nom Truck

It's not because I'm a prude or anything like that.

I eat tamales sold out of some random lady's trunk at the supermarket parking lot. I eat animal feet and intestines and stomach linings.

So no, I have not waited this long to eat at a nouveau food truck because the idea of eating food made in a truck scared me. It is definitely not that.

I guess I just never thought it was a big deal.

Whereas all the other kids are doing it like it's going out of style, I was never in any kind of rush. I decided to wait until the time was right.

"But DG, evvvvvvveryone is doing it."

If everyone were jumping off a bridge, would I do the same? Um, no. If everyone had to follow someone on Twitter just to eat, would I do the same? No. If everyone waited in line for what seemed like an eternity, would I do the same? No, no, no.

No offense to food truck enthusiasts, but this whole gourmet food truck fad is just not my thing. I do not like the idea of having to track down my food only to find out the truck was forced to move. I do not like the idea of having to wait in a line of 35 hipster foodies who somehow found out the truck's new location before I did. Believe it or not, I have better things to do.

Unless of course, the truck was already there waiting for me.

Which is exactly why I gave it up for the Nom Nom Truck.

He just happened to be catering a gallery event we attended a few weeks ago. We got there and I spotted him from a distance looking all buff decked out in green and yellow hanging out by the sidewalk on South Pasadena's Mission Street. I made the first move. But being my first time, I was a little on the wishy washy side as I pondered everything this hunk of a Vietnamese fusion food truck had to offer.

Did I want a lemongrass chicken taco topped with Vietnamese vegetable accoutrements? Or perhaps a grilled pork taco or tofu taco?

Or would I find pleasure in the truck's banh mi?

"Screw it," I said. It was free, so I had it all.

Foreplay came in the form of canned carbonated beverages and kawaii Asian snacks like Hello Panda cookies, rice crackers and Pocky. Which were also free for the taking that evening. Needless to say, alot of foreplay was had.

Doing the deed with the truck's Grilled Pork Banh Mi wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, especially if 5 bucks is what they charge normally--an astronomical price considering the same can be had at a traditional banh mi shop for half the price. I'll give them credit for very tasty meat--juicy pork with the perfect amount of char--but other than that, the baguette was on the dry side and didn't have as much mayo/butter/soy sauce or whatever *ahem* lube combo as it should have had.

The tacos, however, did not fail to please the palate and were quite delicious. Warm, fluffy corn tortillas really showed off the truck's nicely done proteins. The lemongrass chicken, grilled pork and tofu were all tender and generous with great flavor. Pickled daikon, carrots and cucumber added a perfect crunchy texture and helped to bring out the flavor of those juicy, charred proteins.

So what did I think about deflowering my nouveau food truck virginity with the Nom Nom Truck? Overall, I'm glad I did it, and there were definitely as many high points as there were low points. Though my first time may be a little skewed from being too easy--not having to go on the prowl for it, not having to wait a long time, and not having to pay--the experience itself was enough to make me curious about all the fun I could have with all the other trucks out there. But I'm not planning on becoming a total food truck whore anytime in the near future; I'm just not that into chasing them down and waiting around just to get a little nouveau food truck somethin' somethin.' So I think I'll be picky about hooking up...I'll hold my own and maybe play hard to get a little bit. I may have popped that gourmet food truck cherry a little prematurely, but I still want to be in charge of my nouveau food truck consuming body.

The Nom Nom Truck
http://nomnomtruck.com
Follow the @nomnomtruck on Twitter

MEOW: Pambazo, Cook's Tortas, Monterey Park

I wish I had enough time and money to eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.

I wish I had friends and loved ones surrounding me as I ate whatever whenever so that I could try whatever they were eating whenever.

I would if I could, but I can't so I won't.

Because I don't live in Fantasy Land, it's usually just lil' ol' me and maybe my hubby and baby boy squeezing a small meal into our busy schedules ninety-nine percent of the time. It would take me like nine years to collect enough photos and notes on different dishes from just one restaurant in order to write a comprehensive post, so I decided to start a new feature called MEOW, or MEal Of the Week where I'll be sharing one favorite dish or small meal that I ate during that week. This way, I can avoid gaining 200 pounds and spending all my money trying to eat everything on the menu by myself in one sitting just to write a big ol' post. This way, I can focus a little more on the actual food thingy that made its way from the table to my tummy instead of feeling pressured to do a full-on restaurant review every time. This way, I will throw my money away slowly and my waistline will expand over time--I prefer gradual changes.

My first MEOW goes out to the Pambazo from Cook's Tortas in Monterey Park. I gotta tell you a little secret that I didn't even know what one was when I ordered it except for the fact that it had chorizo, potatoes, crema, lettuce and guajillo in it as stated by their infamous ginormous menu board.

Then they bring me this bright reddish-orange sandwich that had some nice charring on top and as much as it made my mouth water upon first glance I thought they had brought me the wrong sandwich. She said "pambazo" as she handed it to me though, and still doubtful, I wrapped my hands around the thing, glistening with chile tinted oil, and took a bite.

According to owner Ricardo Díaz, the pambazo is dipped in guajillo chile and fried which is why my sandwich was a little more colorful than I had expected it to be. A common street food in Mexico, it's sometimes fried in hubcaps or old car doors; at Cook's Tortas, it's cooked on equipment that's a tad more fancy, but it came out equally as good, I'm sure. It was a bunch of yin-yang balancing act stuff going on in one sandwich. You had the smokiness of the guajillo chile and subtle saltiness of the chorizo holding hands with the mellow creaminess of the papas and the crema. You had the springy texture of their already delicious house baked bread singing kumbaya with the crispy crust it was given by frying and with the crumbly texture of the chorizo. My only gripe was that it had too much lettuce--a problem easily solved by just taking some of it out with my orange-stained fingers.

Cook's Tortas
1944 S. Atlantic Blvd
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(323) 278-3536

For more information about the restaurant itself, please read my first post on Cook's Tortas.

Rock Star Lunch Tour, Day Three: Rockstars Are People Too

Today I did not go anywhere.

I took a break from my Rock Star Lunch Tour and stayed home to clean because my house is a mess.

I ate a salami sandwich for lunch. It was good.

Hey, rock stars are people too.

Tortas With A Twist: Cook's Tortas, Monterey Park

There always seems to be a direct correlation between the way life is treating you and the way your food is working with you. At least that's the way things seem to work for me. I mean, don't you notice that when life hands you lemons, one of the lemons squirts you in the eye as you're trying to make lemonade?

It never fails that your burrito falls apart at the seams after you've had a crappy day. You can always count on burning your chin and staining your pants when you pull the whole sheet of cheese off a slice of pizza with your teeth, leaving you with a sorry piece of sauce laden crust on the very same day that your boss ripped you a new one.

On the flip side, good food experiences seem to coincidentally go hand in hand with good days, and I'm pretty sure that my recent discovery of Monterey Park's Cook's Tortas is a sign that things are indeed looking up for me. And let me tell you, they are.

Yes, I'm still unemployed. But my resume is getting noticed and prospective employers are starting to call back. I've gone to a few interviews and have done pretty well. I've been looking pretty damn fly in my perfectly tailored black suit jazzed up with a blue shirt, skinny zebra belt, and patent leather pumps. Things are just working.

Now Cook's Tortas may not be your usual tortas joint, but nevertheless, things have a way of working there too. And let me add, they work pretty darn well.

Owner Ricardo Diaz's tortas range from traditional--such as their Milanesa or Carne Asada--to nouveau--with options like Smoked Salmon with Cream Cheese, Bacalao, or Chicken Mole Verde. The restaurant's floor-to-ceiling chalkboard menu looks more like a team roster with each sandwich's key components listed underneath their respective sandwich captain.

It's fitting, though. Sandwich Teamwork is probably the most important element to sandwich success and Cook's Tortas definitely has it. Their in-house baked bread is nicely crusty on the outside, moist and dense on the inside, and more like a ciabatta than your usual bolillo. Most importantly, its size, shape and texture work so well at holding all its teammates together in a cohesive package. Inside that package, the ingredients team doesn't fuck around either: meats, veggies and other condiments combine to create tasty and interesting flavor combinations and hold on to each other to ensure minimal slippage--a sandwich phenomenon that I recall Tony Bourdain once comparing to sliding tectonic plates.

A "La Diabla" torta I had one day--with chicken slathered in chile de arbol and habanero and accompanied by jalapeño and guacamole--was moist and deliciously spicy.

The beef tongue inside my lengua torta was perfectly tender and tasted even better with the jalapeños and mayo that came with.

Though the breaded steak in my milanesa torta was a tad on the dry side, the sandwich as a whole was still fine.

All the little extras at Cook's Tortas also work to set this place apart from the rest. All tortas come with one of the restaurant's creative sides such as their yummy "Red Fries" (shichimi togarashi-sprinkled sweet potato fries), watermelon pickles, or new potato salad. Huge jars or brightly-colored and freshly-made aguas frescas sit atop the counter tempting each customer with creative flavor infusions such as cucumber lime and pineapple celery. There are freshly baked pastries and Illy espresso served here, with cute little diagrams of the different drinks and their foam to espresso ratios drawn on the chalkboard wall.


Life is getting good again, and I'm so glad I found Cook's Tortas. If life were slinging me more suckage, the insides of a Five Dollar Footlong would be sliding out onto my lap for sure.

Cook's Tortas' mascot Monkey Lady here thinks so too.


Cook's Tortas
1944 S. Atlantic Blvd.
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(323) 278-3536
www.cookstortas.com



Here's what other local bloggers have to say about Cook's Tortas:
Eating LA wonders why they aren't everywhere.
Food GPS shows a photo of owner Diaz's thoughts on a pig's rightful place.

Holy Mother Of God: The Godmother Sandwich, Bay Cities Importing, Santa Monica

Besides getting a fucking job, perhaps the only good thing to come out of driving out to Santa Monica to meet with a headhunter is a trip to Bay Cities Deli.

After having spent the last five days or so in my finest house clothes with hair and face au naturel, I had to get all dolled up in my best Banana Republic-esque Biz-Caash wear. I certainly looked like I meant business. I think I sounded like it too, rattling off to these middlemen, these resume passer-arounders, that I can do this, that, the other, and even then some.

It wasn't a real interview, but it wasn't an ordeal that called for a meal for pussies, either. I needed substance, and a Godmother with the Works would do the trick. Layers of genoa salami, mortadella, coppacola, ham, proscuitto, and provolone cheese topped with an array of condiments which includes a delicious hot pepper salad all on Bay Cities' own freshly baked crispy-on-the-outside-chewy-on-the-inside roll proved that this was not a sandwich to be fucked with--an attitude that I surely want of myself during my job hunt.

It was a great sandwich--its parts working together for the good of the whole--but it obviously had nothing to do with my job hunt. Headhunter lady emailed me that afternoon saying that the lead she thought was a great fit for me didn't think I was all that great of a fit. Back to the drawing board.

Bay Cities Italian Deli
1517 Lincoln Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 395-8279
www.baycitiesitaliandeli.com

When One "O" Is Better Than Two: Euro Pane, Pasadena

Pasadena's Euro Pane has been on my must-try list of eateries for God-knows-how-long but has been bumped towards the bottom for the same God-knows-how-long. It wasn't until a recent jonesin' for French macarons that I bumped Sumi Chang's Colorado-Blvd-east-of-Old-Town bakery and café to the top.

Not to be confused with macaroons, those lumpy coconutty cookie thingies that are all too often left behind on the office cookie platter, French macarons (with one "o") are a completely different species. I first discovered these lovely little domes at Kristy Choo's Jin Patisserie and at Michelle Myers' Boule and have been craving the light airy texture of flavored almond meringue, luscious ganache or cream filling and adorable, sherbety colors ever since.

Europane's macarons are not as dainty as your typical macaron, which usually measures a little larger than a golf ball. Rather, they're as big around as a tennis ball, an attribute which at first made me wonder if any quality would be skimped for quantity. Their delicate meringue crust gave way with a slight chewiness, each bite containing a bit of cream. My absolute favorite flavor was the salt caramel whose subtle sweetness was enhanced by grains of sea salt. The pistachio and hazelnut flavored macarons weren't as delicious as the salt caramel but were still good, while the raspberry flavor was just *meh* in my opinion.

Not only does Euro Pane make a mean macaron, but their other baked goods such as croissants, caneles, tarts, bread pudding and cookies are also worth the trip. And don't forget about their sandwiches either. Their open faced egg-salad sandwich is like none I've ever had before where slightly-on-the-soft-boiled-side eggs mingles with arugula on a slice of crusty rosemary-currant bread. As an added bonus, you get one of their yummy sugar-sprinkled butter cookies on the side...score!


Euro Pane
950 E. Colorado Blvd, ste 107
Pasadena, CA 91106
(626) 577-1828