I visited the India Jones truck at good old First Fridays evening on Abbot Kinney. The area was pretty packed, but I had been following India Jones on Twitter and was eager to try them out. When I got there, Mr. Jones himself was dealing with a horrible skater punk who had decided to steal a can of Pellegrino. It was an uncomfortable situation, because the skater guy was obviously a terrible person, and luckily someone stepped in and grabbed the can to return to Jones. One of his idiot friends decided to hit the truck with his skateboard and ran away, because he was like a child, and although Jones chased after him, it was to no avail, the buffoon had gotten away. After seeing this, my hunger for some food from this truck grew even more. Jones was willing to defend his truck and fight against dumb hooligans, so I was happy to support. And by support I mean order food.

I decided I had to get one of their frankies, which is a street food from India. The frankies here included cilantro tamarind chutney, chopped onion and egg, all wrapped in a thin bread for $3.50. I ordered mine with lamb and without onion. After a few minutes it was ready and looked great. I tasted it and it was pretty great. It was onion-free, but had some delicious spices in it. The lamb tasted great and all-in-all it was really easy to eat in that wrap. My only problem with it was that I wanted more. Of course, at only $3.50, it was a great value and I couldn’t complain. I would definitely get one of these, but stick with lamb because I can’t imagine that tasting as good with any other meat.

EDIT: While the truck is grounded for good, the Flying Pig has spawned some brick and mortar that may or may not be anything like the truck.

For my second course on First Fridays in Abbot Kinney, I headed out to one of LA’s newest food trucks, the Flying Pig. When I first read about this Mexican-French fusion truck, I wasn’t too amazed by what I read. Fusing Mexican food with Asian is one thing, but to try to fuse it with French as well seemed like a strange niche that I didn’t need to explore. Lo and behold, my opinion changed when I saw the truck and the happy customers outside of it.

Rather than making French food and putting it into tortillas and such, this truck went gourmet and uses French techniques to make really good food, then puts it into tortillas. The prices also reflected a bit of a gourmet markup, with tacos running for $2.50, rather than the average cost of $2. Their menu wasn’t really built for an unvegan, with almost every item featuring a vegetable of some sort. I settled upon the Grilled Beef Short Rib taco and the Tamarind Duck taco. The beef one came with oyster mushrooms and a mysterious “death sauce,” while the duck came with toasted almond and pickled beet salad. I asked for the beef without mushrooms, and was extremely disappointed to be told that the shrooms were mixed in with the beef. Thinking fast, I ordered the Smoked Chicken instead. This came with green curry and napa slaw. I ordered it without the nasty slaw and then ordered my duck without the absurd-sounding pickled beet salad.

When my food was presented to me, I must admit I was a little disappointed in the diminutive size of the tacos. Sure, they were the same size as a typical taco truck taco, but I was hoping that extra 50 cents might somehow translate into more food. I was also a little upset that the Tamarind Duck taco had somehow been topped with clovers. I really have no problem with clovers, as they are tasteless and textureless, but it is unnecessary to cut down these poor, defenseless plants as they do nothing to enhance food in any way.

After all this consideration, I bit into the duck taco. It was pretty amazing. The duck was nicely glazed and perfectly flavored. Each bite was slightly chewy, but gave pretty easily. The toasted almonds were a nice touch, too. After this great experience, I tried out the smoked chicken. One again, I was floored by how good it was. The chicken pulled apart quite nicely and curry, coupled with the juices, brought the taco together quite well.

These tacos were kind of a luxury in the food truck world. It was definitely worth it for the extra 50 cents, yet it will be hard to pull myself away from all the varieties of cheaper tacos.

Sometimes, following LA’s food trucks on Twitter can be a difficult process. If you don’t have a Twitter account or a smartphone, then it gets even harder (seriously, not having Twitter or a smartphone is soooo 2008). Luckily for those who fight the future of technology, there is a little event on the first Friday of every month on Abbot Kinney in Venice creatively called First Fridays. These nights are the best opportunity to experience LA’s food truck culture.

One truck I’ve been trying to find for a while happened to be there. It’s called South Philly Experience (SPE) and dishes out Philly Cheese Steaks, plus a couple other random East Coast faves like Tastykakes. The menu was as basic as you’d expect from a food truck, offering a couple varieties of sandwiches, but I only wanted the original. I ordered as specified on the menu, “witout” onions and “wit” Cheez Wiz, as I’ve heard the Wiz is Philly’s top choice for cheese steaks.

As noted on the truck, SPE gets their bread all the way from Philly to ensure they do these sandwiches right. Part of their plan seems to be a way to dish out authentic Philly Cheese Steaks on the West Coast, but it also seemed like they were looking for a way to get all the authentic ingredients so they could eat the real thing themselves. Nothing wrong with that, as I would love to bring some authentic Michigan food out to the West Coast for myself and to sell from a truck.

When my sandwich was given to me, it was wrapped in some paper dripping with Wiz and grease. Perfect. I ripped open the paper and dug in. This was a delicious blend of beef and cheese and bread. The beef was juicy and oh so flavorful. It probably would have been good enough on its own, but the Wiz made it even better. I downed it in as few bites as possible and despite the obvious caloric intake, I was ready for more.

This truck is definitely worth visiting. It’s a little pricier ($8.50 for a sandwich) than the average food truck, but well worth the price.