18 March, 2010: LA may have the most active new food truck scene in the country. Most of these new trucks are old taco trucks that have been fancied up (or not in Kogi’s case). The taco trucks that have been at it forever are still doing their thing. These new trucks are mostly focused on nightlife. And their hours… Read More
16 March, 2010: We’d heard that Portland had “100s” of food trucks. So while up there Rolando and I were excited to learn about the food truck scene. First thing to know is that they aren’t trucks. More like cards. Imagine the set-ups you see at fairs here in New England at the end of summer. Pierogi, french fries, fried… Read More
14 March, 2010: I thought this entry would be about Kogi as the antithesis of Clover. All hype, all image, no community, all meat, annoying capitalization of Ls on website. And while some of those impressions may be true, after having visited a couple of their trucks, I have to say, I’m a huge Kogi fan. If you haven’t heard… Read More
14 March, 2010: My expectations were low. Ecco was bought by Intelligentsia recently. They’re best known for “seasonal coffee,” something I think is marketing hype. I don’t like the name. I don’t like the packaging. But everybody was telling me I should check them out, so I made the trip up to Ecco. Wow, this was an experience I’m not… Read More
13 March, 2010: If you’ve been frequenting the truck lately you’ll notice all of those bags. This picture was taken at Barista, no kidding, that’s what they named their coffee shop. The place has an approach to coffee that we like: they serve many roasters. But beyond that there isn’t much creativity (as if the name itself wasn’t enough of… Read More
11 March, 2010: While in LA we visited Intelligentsia’s roastery. This isn’t their primary roastery (Chicago). But they’ve been at it for a few years and use this facility to service the West Coast. This visit was a ton of fun for us. The classic quote from the trip: “Adding any dairy product is a corrective action.” In other words,… Read More
11 March, 2010: The lists vary slightly, but talk to coffee folks and the following will typically show up on lists of “top roasters in the US” Stumptown (Portland) Intelligentsia (Chicago) Verve (Santa Cruz) Barefoot (San Jose) Ritual (San Francisco) Four Barrel (San Francisco) George Howell (Acton, MA) Barismo (Arlington, MA) Barrington Coffee Roasters (Lee, MA) Stumptown has some crazy… Read More
10 March, 2010: Rolando and I just got back from a trip out to the West Coast. We visited LA, SF, Portland. We ate, and ate, and ate, and ate. Coffee shops and roasters for breakfast, taco trucks for lunch and dinner, fast food joints everywhere in between, and a few fine dining experiences just to make sure we didn’t… Read More