Food Truck Tuesday at Highland Park

What do you do on a Tuesday night? If you never have anything to look forward to, mark your calendar for Highland Park's Food Truck Tuesday. 

You will find about 8 trucks lined up at the back parking lot of Figueroa Produce starting at about 5:30pm. This mobile food night started off as a venue for vegetarians. All trucks that attend the gathering must provide at least one vegetarian or vegan dish. That seems to be history now because I saw Lobsta Truck offering lobster rolls, crab rolls, clam chowder, but nothing on the veggie side.

Whether you are a vegetarian or not, check out Figueroa Produce every Tuesday. Here's what we tried at the event on April 3:

Mandoline Grill
Their banh mi is the most budget friendly at $7 for a 12" sandwich. You can choose between Hawaiian BBQ Chicken, Grilled Steak, Pork, or Tofu. The baguette that wraps all the goodness together is so thick that you must take a bite of the crispy thing with a few strings of pickled carrot and daikon. Then you get to the whole combination of meat + side + bread. The sweet and sour salad really enhances the meat. If you're not up for a whole sandwich, try their taco and salad that offer similar taste sans bread.

Extra tofu salad with a side of pickled carrot & daikon along with two secret traditional sauces (vegan dressing available)

Frysmith
Nothing beats fresh cut fries served with a spoonful of chili and a generous amount of cheddar cheese. Frysmith offers just that. You can find angus beef chili cheese fries or vegetarian chili cheese fries. There is also a sweet potato option served with chicken and tomatillo-tamarind sauce; kimchi fries with Kurobuta pork belly; grilled steak with jack cheese. If you're looking for an appetizer to munch on while you decide which truck to tackle next, go get a large plate of fries for $6.

Vegetarian Chili Cheese Fries

Franken's Gourmet Franks
Next, we moved on to a plant based hot dog stand truck. First you choose from three sausages: the greater, the witch, or the franken. They are filled with all sort of goodies like micro brewed full sail ale and sun dried tomatoes. Next you top your hot dog with sauerkraut, relish, onion, veggie bacon, jalapeño, cole slaw, mustard, ketchup, hot sauce, and/or mayo.

A spooky hot dog stand

B Sweet
This truck deserves the "best dessert truck in Los Angeles" title! We were doubtful at first because how can a cupcake stay fresh in a moving truck? Surely the texture must be dry like sandpaper. The frosting was rather flat on top too. What changed our mind was the free sample of red velvet and dutch apple bread pudding we got. Boy were we blown away by the bready custard. We were convinced to give their red velvet cup cake a try. Surprise surprise! The cake was moist and crumbly. It also had a vibrant butter taste to it that paired well with the creme cheese frosting. For $3 a cupcake and $5 per bread pudding, it's a little on the expensive side, but well deserved for its flavor.

B Sweet with delicate offers like cupcake, bread pudding, cookies, and chocolate milk

Unfortunately we weren't able to try Lobsta Truck, India Jones, Palazzolo's Gelato, Buttermilk, Grill Em All, and Lomo Arigato. The trucks change all the time, so come every Tuesday because you will discover new exotic foods that will rock your taste buds.