By Brett Ashley Hawkins
Editorial Intern
In the last few years, food trucks have seen a vast increase in popularity among teens and adults alike. Capitalizing on the recent boom, several food trucks are coming together for Long Beach’s first Street Food Fest on Saturday, July 24 at Rainbow Lagoon Park (on the northern side of Shoreline Drive). The participating trucks will set up their stations side-by-side to serve the city’s diverse eaters from 10:30am to 5pm.
The event is being promoted through social networking on Facebook and Twitter, and through word of mouth from fans of each involved food truck. The goal of the festival is to raise funds for the Jaycee Foundation’s Adopt-a-Teacher program, which provides local teachers with funds for classroom supplies which normally must be purchased with the educators’ own money. A percentage of the funds raised will also be donated to Long Beach City College’s student scholarship programs.
Twenty-two vendors are scheduled to appear at the festival: Border Grill, a chain of Mexican restaurants with locations in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Las Vegas, in addition to its truck (Border Grill’s chef, Susan Feniger, recently finished Bravo’s second season of Top Chef Masters in fifth place.); Buttermilk, a truck specializing in breakfast foods; Calbi, serving Korean influences on Mexican dishes; Cool Haus, selling ice cream sandwiches; Del’s, a frozen lemonade truck; Don Chow, a Chinese/Mexican fusion truck that appeared on Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives; Fresh Fries, serving several varieties of French fries; the Greasy Weiner, bringing New Jersey-style hot dogs to the west coast; Great Balls on Tires, with their meatball menu items in tow; the Grilled Cheese Truck, whose name speaks for itself; Kabob and Roll, bringing Mediterranean dishes; King Cone, an ice cream parlor on wheels; the Knockout Taco Truck, another Mexican taco truck; Lomo Arigato, a Japanese/Peruvian fusion truck; Louks, Greek gourmet to-go; LudoBites, a guerilla-style pop-up restaurant event created by Chef Ludo Lefebvre; Reggae Chicken, a Jamaican-American fusion truck; SliceTruck, pizza on wheels; Sweets Truck, taking sweets to the street; Uncle Lau’s Island BBQ, a taste of Hawaii; World Fare, the first double-decker bus to enter the world of food trucks; and Yatta, taking sushi on the road.
In addition to the food trucks, arts-and-crafts vendors and live music will be included at the event. The groups performing are rock band Blue Steel and funk band Delta Nove.
Tickets for the festival are available at the event’s website, lbstreetfoodfest.com, for $6 pre-sale and $8 at the gate.
