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Grill 'Em All Truck Gets Brick-And-Mortar
The 'Waste 'em All' burger from the Grill Em All truck will be one of the items on the menu at their new shop (Photo by Lindsay William-Ross/LAist)
After an epic cross-country tour with the Food Network and a long stint slinging burgs on the streets of L.A., rock-n-roll food truckers Matt Chernus and Ryan Harkins are about to settle down. But that doesn't mean the show is over. Far from, in fact. The Grill 'Em All Truck will be opening their first brick-and-mortar location of the truck in Alhambra on January 19, and it'll be aptly named Valhalla.
Chernus and Harkins say that the truck was just a stepping stone to finally opening up a proper restaurant. Though the format might be different, the philosophy behind their burgers will remain the same.
"We use everything fresh, everything local, and everything of the highest quality," explains Harkins, which includes meat from local mom and pop company Rocker Brothers, and buns from a bakery located near their Burbank commissary. But there are no signs, besides the jokey specials wipeboard that declare this philosophy about using fresh, local ingredients. "Well, shit, you should just be doing that anyways," said Harkins in an LAist interview. "We don't advertise that everything is local, but it is. That's just how it should be. Period."
We agree. As for the menu, the guys say they'll be bringing new and old-truck favorites with extreme takes on fries and house made chili. The decor won't stray far from the feel of the truck, with heavy metal posters strewn about, televisions, loud music and original art work by Grill 'Em house artist Andy Anderson.
"If the space-age burger war mural on the entrance wall does not win you over immediately," says Chernus, "the food certainly will." As long as their Belgian-style fries with malt vinegar are around, that's a fact.
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