Burnt is Bueno

I was driving to a meeting and stumbled upon another Food Truck lunch gathering in an office park in Irvine. Being that it was noon and I was hungry, I decided to venture into the parking lot to see which trucks were cooking that day.

I first spied the ubiquitous Lime Truck in the pole position. I guess winning the Food Network Great Food Trcuk Race Season 2 qualifies you for prime real estate. Next to LT was another truck I see in Irvine all of the time, Barcelona to Go. Next to these two trucks were three trucks I have never seen before, but which all intrigued me, Dogzilla, Baconmania, and The Burnt Truck.

I decided on the Burnt Truck because I just didn't feel like a hot dog that day (and from the look of the lines, many people shared my feelings) and while the Baconmania truck looked incredible, I just wasn't feeling that either. That is not to say that I was not throughly intrigued by the cool looking truck, the unique menu, and the longish line.

As I made my way through the line, I noticed the cool computer monitor menus in the side of the truck which featured the daily menu. Two items grabbed my attention immediately, the fried chicken slider and the special of the day. I ordered those two with a side of tater tots and a canned soft drink for $9.

How were they? They were both very good. The fried chicken slider consisted of buttermilk fried chicken, garlic potato spread, and country gravy. It was good, but for my taste could have used some more intense flavors to make the sandwich a bit better. I should have made use of the sriracha that the truck had on the condiment counter, but did not do so.

The chef's special was a unique slider, a spam sandwich with a quail egg on top. Very interesting, very different, and very good. I wouldn't want to be the guy in the truck individually frying up tiny little eggs all day, but the gooey yolk proved to be a perfect foil for the salty spam.

The tater tots were awesome...way better than when you bake them at home.

Will I return? Absolutley. I have heard good things about a PB&J slider.

The Burnt Truck

Other trucks mentioned:
The Lime Truck
Barcelona on the Go
Baconmania
Dogzilla

Flip Your Lid

On November 3, I was running to Costco in the Irvine Spectrum to exchange an HP wireless printer (like you needed to know that, but do yourself a favor and go get one) when I literally stumbled upon a food truck lunch gathering across the street. Foregoing a Costco Hot Dog, I lucked into a parking spot right next to the trucks and began perusing the menus.

The first truck I found was the Lime Truck (website), a long-time OC staple, but now very well-known from the Food Network's The Great Food Truck Race Season 2 (which I watched), however, I decided to keep looking. The next truck down was Panfiniti (website), which had a long line and an interesting menu. Also from TGFTR Season 2, was the Seabirds Truck (website). There was also a cupcake truck (I missed the name since I wasn't going to be having cupcakes with my lunch) and a truck that I had not seen before called The Flip Truck (website), with the tagline REALLY, REALLY GOOD SLIDERS.

I decided to get in line for the Flip Truck and spent the next few minutes trying to decide what to order. I opted for a mixed special (since all sliders come in pairs) and tried the Kobe-Guacamole slider, a Hawaiian themed burger with hoisin, pineapple, and jalapeno and Lou-wow Fries (described as Pink Hawaiian Sea Salt & Pink Peppercorn ground over Shoestring Fries, served with Truffled Ketchup). All of that plus a Diet Coke was $11.

Interestingly, the truck was "manned" by three very cute girls, all with very different looks. Taking orders was an extremely friendly young blonde girl with a nose piercing, working the grill was an older (not old, just older than the order taker) blonde with pigtails (who, it turns out is the truck owner, Heidi), and working the fry station and handing out completed orders was a younger brunette. NOTE: When you are standing in a hot parking lot waiting a few minutes for your order, you notice things like this...

So how were the Burger Sliders? Both were very good and packed a lot of flavor into a small package. The Kobe-Gaucamole was my favorite, however, the pineapple addition to the Hawaiian burger was a great addition. The buns were nicely toasted, all of the sauces were unique and the amount of food was just about right for a lunch special of two sliders and fries. The fries were very good, but the truffled ketchup was REALLY good.

Would I return to the Flip Truck? Absolutely! If you want to find them, there are several sites that track food trucks in OC such as:

Roaming Hunger
TruxMap

The Shwack...

The whole family was down at the Dana Point Marine Institute for a Saturday morning outing. Wanting to sample something from Dana Point, consulting Yelp, and recalling a review in the OC Register recently, the choice was simple...The Shwack Beach Grill. Located in a former Starbucks location on Del Prado (the one way Southbound street which parallels PCH), the laid back place looks like a smaller version of any wahoos or TK Burger you have ever been to. The Staff was really attentive, happy to be there, and a pleasure to be served by.

The place is counter service (although they do deliver the food once cooked) and seems like it gets pretty crowded. We were lucky enough to be seated by 11:30 (the only upside to having two kids that wake you up at 6:00 on weekends), but as we left, the place started to get crowded.

We ordered the following:

Big Al's Bacon Burger
$5.95
Crispy onions, hickory BBQ sauce, american cheese and deep smoked bacon.

Shwack Spuds
$2.50
Fresh baked idahos finished in zero tras fat canola oil and served with homemade jalapeno bacon ranch.

Good Vibes Veggie Burger
$5.95
Zucchini, mushrooms, onions, potato, and quinoa with Shwack sauce, tomato, fresh arugula, and swiss cheese.

And a Kid's Chicken Sandwich.

So how was it? Very good. I realized as I enjoyed it that most men should probably order a double (which is still reasonably priced), but the single burger was actually enough to satisfy. The bun is in the top of the buns I have had and tasted like a Hawaiian bread or challah or brioche. The burger was cooked pretty well (I was not asked, nor did I specify a temperature). The crispy onions, BBQ sauce, and bacon provided great flavor.

The Veggie Burger tasted like a salad, or something like that, and had a wheat bun instead of the awesome bun the burger had.

The Kid's Chicken Sandwich was very small (slider sized) but had very good flavor and both of my kids enjoyed it.

They could use some additional sides to mix it up.

Would I drive all the way to Dana Point for the Shwack? Likely not, but if I am in Dana Point and hungry, I would definitely go back. It was very good.

The Shwack Beach Grill
24502 Del Prado
Dana Point, CA 92629
Website
Facebook Page

Register Review

Location:Dana Point

The spread of pimento cheese

The spread of pimento cheese | CharlotteObserver.com & The Charlotte Observer Newspaper

Pimento Cheese is not just a great dip or snack, it is a hot new Burger topping trend. See review of Fremont Diner.

More Gourmet Burgers

The OC Register highlights 17 new Orange County restaurant openings, two of which are gourmet burger bars...article here.

Science!

The New York Times writes about a technique to produce a stellar burger.

Who has Liquid Nitrogen at their home?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/science/07tier.html

Dean-o!

Dean Martin's Burger Recipe...awesome!

Link to Esquire