Midtown Lunch

What do falafel sandwiches, chicken parm sandwiches, gyro pitas, and burritos all have in common? Answer: They are all made infinitely better when stuffed with french fries. Don’t agree? Then you’re probably a communist. (Or a far less disgusting eater than I.) But in California, the king of the french fry stuffed lunch has got to be the California Burrito, a San Diego creation that is essentially carne asada fries, wrapped in a giant tortilla. Or as I like to call it, a nugget of deliciousness.  I’ve never actually had a California burrito in San Diego, but that’s probably a good thing. Because it means that I can enjoy these 3 (presumably more mediocre) versions available right here in Los Angeles.

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I will fully admit to having a love/hate relationship with food trucks.  I love street food, and it’s been a part of my lunch routine since I started this site almost 5 years ago.  When the first wave of gourmet trucks started hitting the streets in NYC it was fun, and new.  Unique and exciting.  Now it seems like everybody and their mother is opening a food truck, and some of them are pretty mediocre.  Little did I know that NYC was the minor leagues compared to what was going on in L.A.  Outfits like Road Stoves make it incredibly easy to open your own food truck, and when something is easy why bother doing basic things that opening a new business usually requires… like research.  Or menu testing.

When I first moved to L.A. a year ago this month I was completely overwhelmed by the food truck scene.  So many freakin’ trucks to try, so many different concepts.  Some of them were no brainers… Kogi, Dim Sum Truck, India Jones, Grill ‘Em All (what can I say, I’m a huge Four Horsemen fan.)  Others took a bit of convincing.  Buttermilk Truck?  What the hell is that?! Burgers sold by a Paris Hilton look-a-like?  No thanks.  But I quickly learned to not necessarily judge by name alone (Baby’s makes a good burger, and Buttermilk is possibly my favorite truck in all of L.A.)  Take Frysmith for example.  I like french fries just as much as the next guy, but fries isn’t a meal- even if you top that shit with meat and cheese and other fancy ingredients (which apparently they do.)

Then I found out that you can get those fries stuff into a tortilla… and that changed everything.

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