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Mandoline Grill Truck Debuts, Offers Tons of Vegan Options
For veggie and vegans, the nouveau gourmet food truck trend is a tough one to get on board when many of the menu items offered by the different innovative, fusion, or traditional restaurants on wheels. After much anticipation, the Mandoline Grill Truck was out last night at an event held at the Verdugo, showing off their selection of Vietnamese eats, of which about half are vegan. LA's Vegan blogger extraordinaire, Quarrygirl, was on hand to give the food a taste drive, and shares her thoughts on her blog and with us.
Simply put, says Quarrygirl, "the food was overall bomb!" But she does give some detailed descriptions of and quick takes on several dishes:
- cha gio (fried spring rolls stuffed with fake meat and vegetables) $4: "this stuff is tasty, huge, fried, and cheap…win/win/win/win."
- lemongrass tofu banh mi $6: "this sandwich cost a dollar more than the Mandoline Grill banh mi we had last time, but was a full 6 inches longer as well! The sandwich was massive, hearty, fresh, and full of some of the most amazing marinated tofu I’ve ever eaten."
- lemongrass tofu noodle bowl $6: "tasted good… but not nearly as good as the banh mi. it came with the same perfect tofu that the sandwich did, but on a bed of thin cold noodles to be eaten w/ chop sticks."
- cha gio noodle bowl $6: "basically like the tofu noodle bowl, but w/ spring rolls plopped on top rather than tofu. [My friend] agreed that it was tasty, but the banh mi was better."
The Mandoline Grill says they still have a few kinks to work out before they get on the road regularly, so follow them on Twitter or check their website for updates and serving locations.
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