On the Outside Looking In - LA Street Food Fest

Ok its been 3 weeks since the LA Street Food Fest and I have had time to get over the disappointment of not getting in to the event. This may sound a little like a rant on all the things that went wrong but that's not the intention. After weeks of anticipation my wife and I left the OC for the trip to Los Angeles (DTLA), not bad only a 45 min drive. When we got close to the site of the food fest we were instantly in full on grid lock. An hour later we found a place to park about a mile away and started walking getting more and more hungry with every step.

While walking through the LA streets we ran across the Biltmore Hotel, WOW it is beautiful inside. We used the hotel as a short cut as we trekked over to the food fest.

Now that we have walked the mile to the food fest location, where is the end of the line? It turns out the end of the line goes up one city block, then back and forth through a parking lot (3 more blocks) and 2 more blocks around the corner. Disneyland has some real competition when it comes to long lines.

Along the way there are some cute signs that are trying to encourage you that its worth the wait. "Don't view this as a line...it's an opportunity to build up an appetite!" and" Now would be a good time to peek through the gates and plan your first delicious stop..." The smells coming from inside the event are amazing and at this point we are starving. We can see people inside also waiting in long long lines at each truck.

After 2 hours in line the spokesman for the event came out and

announced that they were not going to let anymore people in. He was very nice and explained that they were as disappointed as we were but also wanted to be fair. He said the lines inside for each truck were running 90+ minutes and now that it was after 3PM and the event ended at 5PM they didn't want to take our money and for us not to have time to taste all the great gourmet food. Looking back, I appreciate his honesty and he seemed to really feel for us.

Still starving and wanting to sit down, have a beer and some good food, we decided to go to Casey's Irish Pub at 613 South Grand Ave LA. We have stopped there a number of times for a Smithwicks, and the place is a true Irish Pub. When in DTLA don't miss an opportunity for a cold one and a good time.

In closing we are VERY happy for the wonderful Gourmet Food Trucks that participated and great publicity they received. We are also happy for the promoters, they not only put on a SUPER successful event, they did a lot to promote the Gourmet Food Truck phenomenon in DTLA. Now someone should do the same for Orange County. I have read other blogs, news reports and tweets from people, and they all had one thing in common, the event was a big success. We can't wait for the next event (this time we will buy the VIP tickets) I'm sure it will be even better.

Check out all the pictures.

Please follow me on Twitter.

Dan

My First Blog Post

Well here I go. I don't think of myself as a writer and I'm no way in hell a journalist. I have great admiration for the real "Bloggers" out there and I follow a number of them on Twitter and Facebook.

I plan to write about things that interest me in ways that hopefully will interest you. I'm open to any suggestions, constructive criticism and of course praise. But what I really want to do is share some of my passions for "social Networking" and good food. Good food can be food made at home, from a street vendor, fancy restaurant or bar. I'm not partial to any zone type of food or establishment. I do like to have a good time and be able to relax.

What has really struck me over the last few months, since my wife and I started to spend some afternoons and evenings in Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the variety of places to eat and drink along with the resurgence of DTLA. But the one things that really got me going was the Gourmet Food Truck phenomenon (@GourmetFoodTrk).

I immediately started searching, researching, following, becoming "Fans" of anything Gourmet Food Truck related. I just cant believe how many trucks there are in Los Angeles (DTLA). I'm not going to try and list them all here but pop over to my twitter account and I have a list of trucks and what I feel is a good start to a list of "Food Experts" in the DTLA area.

I plan write about a few different things:

• The use of "Social Networking" as a sole means of advertising and promotion. It is truly Gorilla Marketing at is's best.
• Interviews and reviews of the food and experience from as many trucks and restaurants as possible.
• I will also post some of my favorite recipes.

Ok, I think that's more than you will ever read so here's the legal disclaimer before I sign off.

I do not have any financial or ownership interest in any Food Truck, Restaurant, or anything else that would make me partial. So all opinions and comments are mine and mine alone (maybe some influence from my wife). I'm sure I will have favorite trucks, restaurants, web sites and blogs that I will share and promote, but they also are just one man's opinion.

All that out of the way lets have FUN. Please comment, write me and follow my blog, Facebook Fan Page and my Twitter account.