The Unvegan

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.