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Getting Balls with the Vesuvio Truck

January 25th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit Comment (2)

Oh this is a new one.

So first off, I had never even heard of a food truck called Vesuvio.  Aside from raising money, this Haiti fundraiser at T-Lofts was awesome for introducing me to some new trucks like this one.  I decided to try this place out first, since my buddy was grabbing some pizza from the Slice truck right next door.  The Vesuvio truck offered some Italian-style sandwiches, but I was looking for something less filling so I could eat from more trucks.  Luckily, they had a solution, called Arancini.

Arancini are Italian Rice Balls, but like nothing you would expect.  They are a mix of white rice, Italian sausage, parmesan cheese, egg, parsley and smoked mozzarella.  After rolling all this together, they are breaded and deep fried.  I walked up and for fear of mispronunciation I simply ordered the “balls.”  The woman in the truck knew what I meant and put my order in.  As I waited, I prayed that the parsley would be minimal and used as an herb rather than a vegetable.  After about five minutes, the balls were ready.

Yumballs!

I sliced one open and found no traces of parsley.  Hooray for herbs!  They were pretty hot, so after a few seconds of cooling, I dipped them into the marinara and tasted.  These were damn good balls.  Some of the best balls I’ve had in recent memory.  I could taste every flavor, from the Italian sausage to the smokey taste of mozzarella.  Each ingredient blended perfectly with the other.

As I ate, I once again reflected upon how cool the food truck craze of LA is.  Sure, I could have gone to the Slice truck and grabbed a slice of pizza, but I can get pizza from a real restaurant if I want to make sure I get something good.  With Vesuvio, though, I got to try a food that I had never heard of and I couldn’t tell you any place that has them other than that truck.  That is the beauty of food trucks, giving people things that you can’t find in a restaurant.

As I perused the rest of the food trucks at the fundraiser, I had one truck that met that call of uniqueness and one that certainly did not.

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2 Responses to “Getting Balls with the Vesuvio Truck”

  1. meatman2 says:
    January 26, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    I am so drooling right now…

  2. carina says:
    January 30, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    hey matt,
    those riceballs are delicious!!!

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Unvegan Top 20 for 2011

‘Tis the season for “Best of the Year” lists, so I thought I would join the party and put in my top 20 new restaurants from 2011.  By the way, this means the restaurants were new to me, not new to LA.  Please note that I am only including meals in the Los Angeles area.  As much as I loved the food on my travels, you can check any of those places out pretty quickly by clicking here.  So, without further caveat, here’s the best that 2011 had to offer for the unvegan:

20.  Cobras and Matadors

This tapas place in Mid-City is everything tapas should be.  From bacon-wrapped dates to a variety of cheeses, there is really something for anyone looking for a delicious meal.  Just beware, while tapas can be kept to a moderate price, when you throw a big group in with small plates, there are bound to be some people who don’t get their money’s worth.  But keep the group small and Cobras and Matadors will send you home full and happy.

19.  Steingarten

Dishing out delicious sausages, including a few of the exotic variety, Steingarten also offers up a pretty stellar beer selection.  If you’ve ever wanted to eat alligator in sausage form, Steingarten won’t disappoint, but they also serve a wider range of foods, including some pretty delicious burgers.  Their sausage execution, though, could use a bit of improvement, which pushed another sausage joint further up on the list. Continue Reading»