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Do we even need to tell you that bacon is one of the most prolific "it" foods these days? Never mind that it draws a fatty, porcine line based on dietary restrictions--we talk about bacon, we read about bacon, we ogle pictures of bacon, and, yes--oh yes, yes--we eat bacon.
On par with the popularity of bacon, in Los Angeles we love our new wave of food trucks. Bacon, meet food truck. Los Angeles, meet the Lardon Truck.
"I was sitting at my desk, thinking to myself: 'Man, if only there was a food truck that just had bacon.' And then...there you were," explains a man in line, tilting his head forward to chat with Lardon Truck co-owner Jeremiah Crowley, who is working the window.
Crowley and his wife, Heather, came up with the idea of making and selling bacon-based dishes while hanging around, drinking some margaritas one night a couple of years ago. Home cooks and food enthusiasts, the Crowleys mulled opening a restaurant, but the economy wasn't encouraging. A few months later, with L.A.'s food truck scene becoming all the rage, the couple decided to turn their bacon restaurant into a bacon restaurant on four wheels, and the Lardon Truck was born. Or, as Jeremiah puts it: "We just did it."
How much bacon can one truck have? Plenty, in fact, and the Lardon Truck can run you through a day's worth of meals with their menu items, from the breakfast sandwiches to the sandwiches and then dessert. Plus, they are offering different varieties of bacon in their dishes or just to order up in sets of strips. "We want everybody to try different types of bacon, that's one of our goals, also," points out Jeremiah.
Meanwhile, Heather and their crew are in the truck, assembling sweet-savory concoctions like a Brioche french toast sandwich made with fluffy egg-battered bread, crunchy strips of bacon, and and egg for some balance. Strips of bacon are woven into a basket that practically gift-wraps fluffy potatoes and cheese that you muscle apart and slather with a creamy-spicy horseradish sauce that is dotted with--guess what?--bacon.
Dessert means more bacon-y goodness. A brownie from local bakery Lark is topped with a Nutella frosting and a pile of bacon crumbles. It is sinfully rich as-is, and then the bacon cuts the sweet and the pliant texture with its jolt of salty, fatty, and chewy. Bring a friend--this is one to share.
As Jeremiah engages with the modest crowd gathered during this soft-launch afternoon, customers wait, wide-eyed, to be passed their bacon-based meals through the window. "What's missing from the menu?" calls out Jeremiah. He hopes that he can get the public's feedback on what items they should have on board, and plans to use social media resources like Twitter and Facebook to crowd-source ideas. (Psst, LAist votes for Bacon Mac N'Cheese!)
A bacon-centric man of the people, Jeremiah wants to be sure that the Lardon Truck hits up spots all over the city. A Valley-born kid, Jeremiah clearly loves L.A. (and the Dodgers!) and bacon. And the city, maybe even the country, is poised to love the Lardon Truck, too.
"You can't have too much of a good thing," observes Jeremiah on the topic of the popularity of food trucks. "L.A., it's so spread out, one of our goals is we want all of L.A. not just the hot spots to enjoy this trend if you will. But the long term is, this might be the United States of Bacon pretty soon, and we're going to hit up everywhere in this country. Maybe...you never know!"
