Food Truck News: Yum Yum Bowls, Umami truck, Grill ‘Em All, the Sweets Truck roll out
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Bangkok native Tommy Buratarat, who co-owns the restaurant House of Thanon in San Diego County, soft-launched Yum Yum Bowls last Wednesday, making it the first Thai food truck in Los Angeles (at least as far as we know; if you know otherwise please drop us a line). Yum Yum offers chicken satay, spring rolls, egg rolls, deep-fried tofu, panang curry, green curry, yellow curry, pad thai, drunken noodles and barbecued pork over rice. The curries ($5.95) and noodle dishes ($5.50) can be made with your choice of chicken, beef or tofu, and they come with a salad and dressing. Appetizers cost $2.50 to $3.50. Drinks include Thai iced tea and fresh coconut juice in the coconut ($2.50). Look for desserts like sticky rice with mango to be added to the menu in the near future. Buratarat says the truck will run Tuesday through Sunday, hitting the Wilshire corridor for lunch and roving to other hot spots such as UCLA and Abbot-Kinney. Watch the Twitter feed for more details. (Twitter: @yumyumbowls)
Two new competitors, Grill ‘Em All (Twitter: @grillemalltruck) and the Umami truck, wade into the gourmet-burgers-on-wheels battle, a niche that previously belonged to Baby’s Badass Burgers (Twitter: @babysbbs). Grill ‘Em All promises high-end burgers with a heavy metal vibe. We’ll see what that means after the truck gets wrapped today and starts rolling later this week or next. Umami, which has been on a furious expansion kick with recently opened outposts in Los Feliz and Hollywood, will roll out a truck devoted to its upscale burgers. The launch, which was supposed to happen last Friday and then today, has been delayed, reports Eater LA.
The Sweets Truck will offer some competition to recently launched Little Spoon Desserts. Both use the same business model of curating and selling desserts made by a variety of local bakers and caterers. The Sweets Truck features cookie sandwiches from Xtreme in North Hollywood: red velvet cookies with sweet cream cheese frosting, chocolate chip cookies with peanut butter frosting and maple pecan pie cookies with pecan pie filling. Other featured items include pecan shortbread squares, triple chocolate fudge cookie bars and coconut walnut bars from Cookie Casa in West L.A.; various brownies from Embrace Sweets in Hollywood (you can specify whether you prefer a corner, a middle or a side, when you order); dipped chocolate treats from Madame Chocolat in Beverly Hills; and gourmet Rice Krispie treats from Milk & Krunchies. The Sweets Truck also boasts a full espresso bar that serves lattes, cappuccinos, brewed coffee and espresso from Jones Coffee Roasters in Pasadena. In the summer, look for Italian sodas and fresh sparkling lemonade.
The Sweets Truck made several test runs last week without Tweeting its locations, and it plans to go live this week with full Twitter updates. (Twitter: @thesweetstruck).
-- Elina Shatkin