Counter: Grain bowls on a food truck, Guerrilla Tacos gets a brick and mortar
The food-truck world in Los Angeles just got a lot more interesting. This week, we highlight a new truck specializing in grain bowls, a truck delivering freshly baked bread and a taco truck from actor Danny Trejo. He’s the guy you often find wielding a machete on the movie screen. He also happens to be really into tacos.
And summer may be winding down, but the heat will be sticking around for at least a couple more weeks. So we’ve got a great idea for how to cool down this weekend, and it involves lots of fresh fruit, ice and a dash of chamoy.
Guerrilla Tacos gets a permanent home
Guerrilla Tacos, Wes Avila’s farmers market-fueled taco truck, will open a brick-and-mortar restaurant in the downtown Arts District next summer. The news was announced to the delight of Avila’s longtime fans, many of whom have followed the chef since his days slinging tacos under makeshift tents in front of coffee shops in 2012. Avila dished on where the restaurant will be, as well as what you can expect on the taco front.
Bread on wheels
Food Editor Amy Scattergood caught up with Amsalam and Alexander Phaneuf of Lodge Bread in Culver City, who have taken an old plumbing truck and converted it into a bread delivery truck. That means plenty of whole-grain, long-fermented, high-hydration loaves will be delivered to select local farmers markets this weekend. The two bakers are also expanding next door to their Culver City location, adding a wood-burning pizza oven and a 20-plus-seat patio.
Montanara in Beverly Hills
Italian street food is the focus of Vinoteca, a new wine bar inside Culina at the Four Seasons at Los Angeles at Beverly Hills, scheduled to open next month. This is where you’ll find montanara (fried pizza dough), made by executive chef Denis Dello Stritto, who grew up near Naples, Italy. Stritto plans on making both sweet and savory montanara, including a version topped with sweet berries and ricotta cheese, and another with burrata and prosciutto.
Cool down with raspados
Need a tip for how to stay cool this week? Think raspados. These Mexican shaved-ice slushies involve various fruits and the spicy condiment chamoy. We highlight three places serving excellent raspados. They also make for beautiful Instagram photos, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Fancy grain bowls on a truck
What happens when four chefs who have worked at some of the best restaurants in the country get together to launch a food truck? Excellent grain bowls, pickled onion rings and killer desserts. This week we take a look at Pico House, a new food truck roaming the streets of Los Angeles, run by chefs who have worked at Bestia in Los Angeles and or Blue Hill in New York City.
Restaurant news
This week, we check out restaurant openings, closings and chef shuffles, which has lately included a Serafina location coming soon to Los Angeles, plans for a new bar in the San Fernando Valley by the Scratch Restaurants Group called Woodley Proper, a new wine bar in Thai Town called Tabula Rasa Bar, and Christine Moore and Pam Perkins’ new café in Montrose called C’est La Vie.
The Taste is coming: Our annual Labor Day food weekend, Sept. 2-4, will be here before you know it; here’s how to get tickets.
Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants, the authoritative annual guide to local dining, is online for subscribers.
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