first first friday

Friday began a new and exciting gourmet food truck tradition near Manhattan Beach called Westchester First Fridays. It was hastily put together in a couple days by some of the truck owners after Venice banned food trucks from their First Friday festival, but even without the last minute aspect, it was a great success and strong beginning of a new tradition. The crowd was big and friendly and all the trucks sold out fairly early. I went with my neighbors Laura, Conor, and Joe. Laura cracked me up as she sped from truck to truck. A few of the truck folks recognized me and stopped to say hi, but every time I turned around, Laura and the gang had moved on to another one. Overall, we got to sample a lot. The Shrimp Pimp Truck and No Reservations never disappoint, but my surprise was loving the Lebanese fare from The Hungry Nomad truck (at first the minced beef wrap seemed 'interesting,' but after a couple bites it really turned amazing.) Laura loved their cheese trilogy: sort of a cross between a pastry and a grilled cheese. Conor also had raves for KrazyBBQ's Korean barbecue sliders. The worst thing about gatherings of many trucks is not being able to sample small bites of many of them. Word is that the next Westchester First Friday could have 2 or 3 times as many trucks, so the challenge will be even greater then! Still, I'm excited about the fortunate circumstance that brought the trucks nearby. With tons of easy parking and such a friendly crowd, it only promises to get better. Join in on the First Friday of every month at 87th and Truxton near LAX.