as you probably know, green truck is one of the original LA food trucks. years before all these other mobile vendors arrived on the scene, green truck was tweeting and serving up healthy, organic, and vegan-friendly fare to the los angeles community. the company has a strong focus on the environment, they use produce from local farmers and even power their vehicles with vegetable oil.

although the green truck has been around forever, i never had the chance to try them until yesterday. they are usually based way over on the west side, but on thursday afternoon they decided to do a special stint in silverlake near the peta office on rowena. the green truck typically serves both meat and vegan options—but yesterday, aiming to please, they went all out and created an entirely animal-free menu for the event. of course i had to check it out.

the peta menu was pretty awesome, featuring the truck’s standard vegan mother trucker burger, as well as a variety of wraps, plus soup, salad, and garlic fries. i hit up the truck with two of my friends, who both went for the mother trucker…

the mother trucker: signature vegan burger made in house and topped with heirloom tomato, sprouts or mixed greens, topped with trucker sauce. $7

i had a bite of this burger, and i must say i am a fan. the patty is thick and full of vegetables, and the beet-based sauce they put on it is excellent. next time i am gonna have to get a whole one of these to myself so i can describe it in full detail.

south central farm vegan wrap: sauteed kale, heirloom beets, quinoa, tempeh, heirloom tomato and tahini dressing wrapped in fresh pickled mustard greens. $7

wanting to take advantage of the special vegan menu, i ordered the south central farm wrap, which was made with freshly-picked, local, organic produce from a farm right here in los angeles. it consisted of a colorful variety of beets and tomatoes, fluffy quinoa, soft tempeh, and tahini, all wrapped up in mustard greens. i think it normally includes bell peppers (which i hate), but i made it pretty clear i didn’t want any of those. the wrap was great—light, delicious, and refreshing. my only complaint is it fell apart and got a little messy, but that’s no big deal. i covered this thing in the green truck’s homemade hot sauce, which made it even better!

so don’t be like me and wait years to try the green truck. track it down next time it’s in your area and order the mother trucker. and if you ever hear about them being in silverlake near peta again, BE SURE TO GO! let’s support these guys for going 100% vegan, even if it’s only for one day.

be sure to follow the green truck on twitter and check out their website for more info.

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the wait is finally over, and the vegan-friendly vietnamese food truck mandoline grill is ready to hit the streets of los angeles. we were at their launch party today at the verdugo, and although they are still working out some of the kinks, the food was overall bomb!

mandoline grill was supposed to start serving at 3pm today, but sadly they didn’t start taking orders until around 3:40. thankfully, the verdugo is a great bar with plenty of beers on tap and a comfortable atmosphere where you can easily lose yourself. when the truck finally began taking orders, it turned into a bit of a clusterfuck. we waited in line for awhile, placed our orders, and stood waiting about 50 minutes for our food to be ready. oh well, considering it’s mandoline grill’s first day on the job, we were definitely willing to cut them some slack.

i was with a grip of hungry peeps, so we literally ordered everything vegan on the menu. here’s a rundown of our haul (in descending menu order of course…)

vegan cha gio. $4

first up, my dining companions sitting opposite me ordered the cha gio, some fried spring rolls stuffed with fake meat and vegetables. since our last visit, mandoline grill has upped the portion size of the cha gio. this stuff is tasty, huge, fried, and cheap…win/win/win/win.

lemongrass tofu banh mi. $6

next up, my husband and i shared a lemongrass tofu banh mi. at 6 bucks, this sandwich cost a dollar more than the mandoline grill banh mi we had last time, but was a full 6 inches longer as well! the sandwich was massive, hearty, fresh, and full of some of the most amazing marinated tofu i’ve ever eaten.

rice vermicelli lemongrass tofu bowl. $6

we also got a lemongrass tofu noodle bowl, which tasted good… but not nearly as good as the banh mi. it came with the same perfect tofu that the sandwich did, but on a bed of thin cold noodles to be eaten w/ chop sticks.

cha gio noodle bowl. $6

lastly, my friend sitting beside me ordered the cha gio noodle bowl which was basically like the tofu noodle bowl, but w/ spring rolls plopped on top rather than tofu. she agreed that it was tasty, but the banh mi was better.

although we waited ages for our food today, i really want to encourage y’all to check out mandoline grill asap. they are a small food truck and almost half the menu is vegan…that alone deserves our support.

today they may have been a bit overwhelmed by the long lines…

and the spotty rain on their launch day.

best of luck, mandoline grill!!!! we can’t wait to eat more of your food.

be sure to follow mandoline grill on twitter and check out their website regularly.

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remember way back in the day, when we blogged about amazing vietnamese food from mandoline grill? well the vegan-friendly food truck is finally ready to start roaming the streets, and they are having their launch party this saturday at the verdugo bar from 3-8pm. i highly suggest you stop by and fill up on some lemongrass tofu banh mi sandwiches and noodle bowls, then wash it all down with some quality craft beer.

vegan lemongrass tofu banh mi. $5

and there isn’t just gonna be awesome food and beer at this event—but also live djs and prize giveaways. sounds like a swingin’ shindig to me!

don’t miss this. the food at mandoline grill is excellent. let’s give them a warm welcome to the food truck club.

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dosa truck is part of the huge twittering mobile food craze that’s hitting los angeles, but unlike the other businesses, this truck doesn’t serve meat. it specializes in all-vegetarian dosas, which are south indian-inspired crepes stuffed with various different fillings.

although dosa truck does serve cheese in some of their dishes, the menu is super vegan-friendly, with all the stuff to avoid being pretty obvious (paneer, yogurt, etc). i hit up the food truck today at their stint in hollywood, and tried out 2 of their vegan dosas as well as a samosa.

the shiva-shakti (pictured above), is a 1/2 masala and 1/2 sweet potato dosa filled with smashed curried indian potatoes. i also tried the mumbai madness, which is the same thing minus the sweet potatoes. both of these creations were amazing; the filling was fluffy and flavorful and the rice-lentil crepe was soft and crispy around the edges. these things were also stuffed with a tasty blend of tomato and coconut chutney. UPDATE: i asked the dude working the truck if the coconut chutney was vegan, and he said it was. however, a reader commented on this post saying it isn’t vegan. i am awaiting an official response from dosa truck… UPDATE #2: the owner of dosa truck just sent me an email and confirmed the coconut chutney is NOT vegan. the tomato chutney is though, so just ask for no coconut. she apologised profusely for the error.

i also grabbed a samosa, the perfect little fried pocket of indian goodness. it was a great one too, with soft potatoes and juicy green peas.

every bite of food i had at dosa truck was excellent, so seriously go show this vegetarian business some support! dosas are 6 bucks each, and worth every penny. and remember, no coconut chutney!

you can get their schedule from their website.
and be sure to follow them on twitter for updates.

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this is fucking crazy. vegans, you need to drop whatever you are doing and hunt down the frysmith ASAP. the awesome food truck that has already been making delicious vegan chili fries has now added vegan daiya cheddar to their menu. we begged for this in our last post, but i never thought anyone would actually listen!

check out their website for their schedule, and follow them on twitter for updates. GO GET DAIYA VEGAN CHILI CHEESE FRIES NOW…LIKE, TONIGHT! the fries were amazing before, so i can’t even wrap my mind around this shit. i just can’t believe vegans are finally getting to eat greasy truck food like everyone else. wow.

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as you probably know, there is a massive food truck craze sweeping los angeles. mobile vendors are popping up all over the place to sell pretty much every type of cuisine and using twitter to broadcast their location. the latest business to join the club is frysmith, a twittering food truck that specializes in gourmet french fries. frysmith loads fancy kennebec potatoes cooked in canola oil up with various toppings to turn the popular side dish into a complete meal. and the best thing about frysmith is, they have vegan options!

over the weekend, frysmith was doing a stint at the verdugo bar in glassel park during their saturday afternoon patio session. the verdugo is one of our favorite spots to drink in LA, and also where we tried the awesome food of hot knives and mandoline grill, so naturally we had to go check it out.

trying to get the truck into the lot

like many food trucks that are just starting out, frysmith is still ironing out a few kinks. they were supposed to start serving at 3pm, but had some problems getting their truck into the verdugo parking lot and so the food didn’t start coming out until around 4. that’s alright though, the verdugo had a great beer selection to help pass the time as well as board games and good music.

vegan chili fries: organic tomato and mixed beans with soy chorizo and smoked paprika. $4.50

when frysmith started serving, we got an order of vegan chili fries which were absolutely delicious. the long thin potato slices were perfectly crisp and crunchy, piled high with tomatoes, beans, soy meat and chopped onions. the portion was hearty and a great deal at under 5 bucks. i really think the frysmith is onto something because i could eat this as a meal everyday.

if you like vegan junk food, i highly suggest you get your ass out to the frysmith and taste what they’ve got cooking. they make the best vegan chili fries i’ve ever eaten. now if only they would carry some cheddar daiya to sprinkle on top…then they’d be perfect.

follow frysmith on twitter to find out where they’ll be next.

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just when i thought it was safe to return to the verdugo bar to get my drink on, without tempting vegan food vying for valuable stomach space, mandoline grill had to show up and ruin it.

you see, verdugo bar has long been a favorite spot of ours, what with arguably the best beer selection in los angeles and a great atmosphere. but for the 2nd and 3rd sunday in august, the culinary geniuses known as hot knives took over the verdugo patio and transformed the place from an dark and cold foodless bar into the ultimate summer hang-out, complete with an all vegan menu, tons of board games, and a stellar music playlist. after two weekends of fun, the hot knives packed up their bags and i figured that for me the verdugo was back to normal—back to being a bar where beer reigned supreme without distraction.

then mandoline grill had to come along and prove me wrong. last sunday the soon-to-be regularly operating vietnamese food truck set up shop on the patio and served a delicious lunch in the heat. while their menu wasn’t entirely vegan, they did have some animal-free options that were really fucking tasty.

vegan lemongrass tofu banh mi. $5

the first was a lemongrass tofu banh mi. i am a pretty big banh mi fan in general anyway, and i can tell you that this was a really good one. the tofu tasted like it had been marinated for a long time, its flavors were intense and went all the way to the middle. the vegetables were fresh, and the french baguette was perfectly crunchy. plus, mandoline grill added a healthy amount of vegenaise to make the sandwich nice and creamy.

vegan cha gio. $3.50

they also offered vegan cha gio, fried spring rolls filled with faux meat. the rolls were pretty hearty and cost $2 each, or 2 for $3.50…definitely a decent price. the cha gio was rich, oily, and really delicious—it tasted like what i remember egg rolls tasting like but without the weird aftertaste. i would definitely order these little suckers again.

i’m pretty sure this was the mandoline grill’s first time serving food to the public, so they seemed a little stressed out and there were a couple delays. however, what they lacked in smoothness, they made up for with absolutely delicious vegan food. another great thing about mandoline grill is that they were pretty knowledgeable about veganism. they stressed to me that even the bread was vegan, and that everything was cooked separately and with different utensils. awesome. i can’t wait until they get there food truck up and running—i know i’ll be one of the first customers in line.

so let’s hope the verdugo continues to be awesome and host patio events that serve vegan food. it’s strange that my favorite bar in town is slowly becoming one of my favorite places to eat as well, but hey i’m not complaining.

for more info, follow @verdugobar and @mandolinegrill on twitter

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