Have you ever been to the Kogi truck?
I have. And lo, I wept, for it was an emotionally therapeutic experience.
Okay, perhaps I exaggerate just a skosh. But seriously, those kids know how to make a Korean Taco.
When did food trucks become a thing? Living in Los Angeles (a town with a long and noble tradition of food trucks), it’s easy to take them for granted. They’re always just there, outside your office building (or nightclub, if it is after hours and you’ve been dancing), ready to serve you with something to help soak up whatever you might have been imbibing. Too, back home in Hawaii, the lunch truck (in this case, serving a steaming heap of rice and meat and macaroni salad to businessmen) has long been a staple of business subculture.
But in recent days weeks however long it’s been, these trucks have become a thing – not just a place to eat lunch or sober up, but a culturally relevant event all it’s own. We celebrate the pioneer (or at least, the one that’s credited with being the pioneer – I haven’t done the exhaustive research necessary to say so definitively) here, as Kogi BBQ has largely been credited with being the ones creative enough to utilize the web (and particularly, twitter) to spread the word and make sure that people know just where they’ll be.
Since the start of their revolution, a number of others – some original ideas utilizing a similar marketing model, some impostors – have sprung up, taking their places on the streets of Los Angeles and other cities, peddling everything from Japanese-style sliders (Marked5) to Shave Ice (Get Shaved) to Ice Cream (Van Leeuwen in NYC is pretty excellent). Heck, there’s even a blog (California Taco Trucks) that provides interviews, updates to city ordinances, and all around nice introductions to the trucks that may or may not be in your area. The use of the web and twitter has made these sorts of trucks easy to find (rather than something you just happen upon) and something people can actively target – when my father came to visit recently, one of the main goals of his trip was to go to the Kogi truck. In fact, I’m fairly certain that was the purpose of the trip, and visiting me was ancillary to that goal.
All that is to say, we salute you, Kogi BBQ!
And please don’t sue us.
-Dan
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I am a little jealous because I had to illustrate this delicious strip without ever trying these legendary culinary delicacies. No. Instead, as part of my research for this, I went on a 2 year crack binge, stealing, thugging, and selling my lonesome and delicate body for just one sweet wiff. Ok. Maybe not. Maybe I just thought about that time where Ben and Jerry’s Americone dream was on sale, so I bought 8 of them and watched Sex and the City every day. That Samanta is such a slut, and will Miranda ever just learn to love Steve?
Whoah. What was I talking about? In any case, I can’t wait to hit up L.A. to try the Kogi truck next time I’m out there. Along with Dan, my sister (future bakery owner of All Your Cakes Are Belong to Us) and food blogger raves about the Kogi truck, and was actually the first person to tell me about it. Damn. Why do these blog posts always make me hungry? I’m going to grab a brownie and some coffee. Thank you, Robot.
Discussion (2) ¬
All you need is ruv! Thanks for being so cool, people of Kogi! I am ultra jealous of my sibling who have undoubtedly enjoyed your tasty tacos today.