The Unvegan

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.

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.