As everyone knows, almost two weeks ago, Haiti was hit with a devastating earthquake. Other than donating by text message or contributing in other small ways, a bunch of the food trucks of LA banded together for a huge fundraiser at T-Lofts in West LA. I headed out there with a buddy on Saturday to check them all out and to do our part to help the Haitian cause.

After a week of rain, the clouds had broken for a beautiful day of truckery. There were a ton of trucks represented there, including many I have already reviewed. The Grilled Cheese Truck and Buttermilk Truck were by far the most popular trucks there, drawing huge lines that might be worth waiting in if there didn’t happen to be another 20 trucks with great food right next to them. Some other trucks there were the Nom Nom Truck, Flying Pig, South Philly Experience and Don Chow Tacos, who was sporting a stylish new paint job. You might think those trucks would be plenty to keep the fundraising masses happy, but you would be wrong. Rather than grabbing food from these trucks that I have already reviewed, I had the opportunity to try out three new trucks, which mostly left me satisfied. Check out those reviews here:

Getting Balls with the Vesuvio Truck

Further Fusion at Kabob Express

Subpar-BQ at Barbie’s Q

And if you’re looking to donate to Haiti, text the word “Haiti” to 90999. It’s the easiest thing in the world to do and will automatically bill 10 bucks to your cell phone bill. The money goes to the Red Cross, so you know it’s good.

***Update: According to Lisa Redmond, one of the organizers, over 5,000 people attended and more than $7,000 were raised. Hooray for food trucks!

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.