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Vietnamese Taco Truck to Hit The Westside This Summer
Banh mi and chicken lemongrass taco, photo used by permission of Nom Nom Truck.
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In a rapidly growing trend that blends all the best parts about real California fast food, three UCLA grads have announced plans for a Vietnamese food truck that will serve favorites like banh mi and twists like lemongrass chicken tacos. Just like its Twittering predecessors Kogi BBQ and Don Chow Tacos (Chinese-Mexican fusion), the Nom Nom Truck (as it's christened) already has a sparkling website with highly integrated social media links: Twitter, Flickr, and Facebook. Founder David Stankunas, one of the three Bruins responsible for the new concept, tells LAist via email: "It seems everyone is buzzing about banh mi! To be honest, that's just the way I like it! I'm such a huge fan of Vietnamese food, so I'm incredibly happy to see all this interest!" (LA Weekly's Squid Ink write-up is just the tip of the buzz currently sweeping the Tweetosphere.)
The enterprise will be launching in August and will remain primarily in the West Side -- since poor Santa Monicans somehow currently exist without banh mi. True, West LAers have Pho 99, but it's pretty poor chops compared to the Valley, K-town, San Gabriel, or Long Beach. If recent taco truck successes are any indication, I'm sure we'll be seeing much more of Nom Nom in the near future.
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