If there’s anything Asians know how to do, it’s how to make some of the most mouth-watering, tasty dishes to satisfy our appetites. This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to experience different cuisines served by food truck vendors at yet another one of Los Angeles’s night markets in Monterey Park. Popular eateries among the 30 or so vendors that participated in event were the Ice Cream Lab, Fluff Ice, Tanota Takoyaki, Mighty Boba, and Swirls Potato & Lemonade. In addition to all the food, MPK also presented the city’s first beer and wine garden for residents to enjoy.
Food trucks have technically been around for decades now and in the past they were more commonly seen around college-towns, concerts, music festivals and other events. Now, with the rise of the industry, food trucks have been hitting the streets in some of US’s biggest cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.
Daniel Duong, the owner of Rolling Burger Barnes who started his all-American food truck two years ago, decided to get into this particular business because he saw a bright future for the industry. “Right now, I don’t think there is a dominating player among all the food trucks, like how Coca-Cola is the king of the sodas,” he says, and is hopeful that Rolling Burger Barnes could perhaps be the dominating player in the next few years to come.
Other popular vendors of the night included GP Bakery’s booth, a traditional Chinese bakery famous for their onion pancakes and chives turnovers. USC students Maggie Chen and Nancy Chiu, a pair of friends from Taiwan, stood in line at the bakery’s booth for quite awhile before receiving their orders of onion pancakes chives turnovers. “The line was so long, so we thought it must be really good!” Maggie told me. And the consensus? “It tastes just like the food at Taiwanese night markets back home — Totally worth the wait!” said Maggie.
Jordan and Monet, a couple that drove to the venue all the way from North Hollywood where they live, also enjoyed the spicy glass noodles from GP Bakery.”We try to attend as many night market events like this as possible, because we love food! But we were surprised how much of a variety of food there was, and even more surprised about how many people showed up!” exclaimed Monet. “And these spicy glass noodles are definitely worth the long drive.”
While the food was definitely the highlight of the evening, it wasn’t the only main attraction of the night. The night market was also prepared with a variety of entertainment for all ages including a DJ, a face-painting booth, merchandise vendors and traditional carnival games.
To conclude the night, the DJ began playing popular line dance songs such as The Wobble, the Macarena, and the Cha Cha Slide which really got the crowd up and going. Families, couples, and friends grabbed one another and danced the summer night away.
Feature photo courtesy of Kollaboration.
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