Tuesday, March 1, 2011

SaMo Main Street Food Truck Tuesdays: Where you can grub & booze

A lot of food trucks are popping up and congregating across town. There are food truck lots in Downtown, Culver City and Santa Monica. But of all of those, I was most keen about the Main Street lot located in the Santa Monica/Venice Beach area. This is mostly because the trucks gather on the premises of the Victorian Hotel, that offers up its seating area (so you don't have to squat on the sidewalk) and downstairs Basement Tavern bar (so you can drink a cold beer while enjoying your purchased truck fare. The Santa Monica Food Truck Lot occurs every Tuesday from 5.30pm-10pm.

The Victorian Hotel has a lovely patio with tables and romantic lighting. They also had a live band when I was there last week. This is actually a pretty cool way to spend the evening or perhaps take a date. You get a nice selection of street food at reasonable prices, you get to gaze up at the stars and do all of this with a drink in hand.

The truck schedule changes weekly so check this calendar to see when your favorite trucks are making their appearance. I deliberately made a visit last week because Manila Machine and Lobsta Truck were present.

No Tomatoes, and Indian truck, offered kathi rolls for $6 each. They are filled with meat (chicken/beef) or vegetables of your choice, Indian spices, onions, cilantro in a wheat wrap. The flavors were good, the meat was tender and was a nice variation of a regular wrap.

I made a beeline for the Lobsta Truck for a lobster roll, which they serve with mayo (Maine-style) or drawn butter (Connecticut-style).

$12 is fairly pricey for small-portioned truck fare but there were generous chunks of lobster which were cooked well. It's amazing how they avoided the rubbery texture despite having to churn these out for the masses. I opted for the Connecticut-style (butter over mayo) which I felt was a great way to retain the essence of the lobster. I did find there to be a bit too much butter so perhaps next time I'll ask them to go light on it. I'm glad that they selected a good bread which was toasted and tasted fresh. It was airy with a little butter on the outside. Overall, a good lobster roll, which is hard to find on this side of town.

Santa Monica Main Street Lot
Tuesdays 5.30-10pm
2612 Main St. Santa Monica 90403

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