TwoWordHeap

The Truck…
The Myth…
The Fusion…

Kogi BBQ…

Can you believe that I waited two hours for this? You should.

Kogi BBQ is a fusion of Mexican food and Korean BBQ, both of which are very popular in the Southern Californian community. Korean BBQ on a taco is such a great idea that it boggles the mind why no one ever thought of it before… OK it doesn’t boggle the mind that much, because that combination is just CRAZY! Really the most interesting thing about their food is that your eyes tell your taste buds what to expect, and then your taste buds freak out as they are delivered something completely different than the tacos & burritos that were promised. After the brief trust issues that arrise between the eyes and the tongue relaxes, you expect beans & cheese and what you end up with is an explosive world of spices, vegetables and perfectly cooked meats.

Some of you may ask “where do I get such a delectable treat” and really there are many answers, but only two are right at any given moment. Kogi BBQ is based on two trucks… “Roach Coaches” as they are affectionately (not) called. These trucks are normally signs of food of questionable quality and even more questionable cleanliness… but that is not the case here. Kogi’s trucks are clean and obviously dispense food that can only be called mouth wateringly addictive. So if they are on a truck how can you find them when they are stopped and ready to serve? Guess… No, seriously, guess… I will wait…

And you are all wrong… or if you are right I can’t hear you and frankly don’t care what you have to say anyway (unless it is positive things about me). The best way to find out where the two Kogi trucks (named Rojas and Verde) are is by following them on twitter. YES TWITTER! Their Twitter account is located at twitter.com/kogibbq and they post constant updates on where they are going, when they are going to be there, they give updates if they are running late, and even update what ‘on the fly’ specials might have developed that night.

The amazing thing about it is Kogi is followed by almost 23,000 people, and they haven’t even been around for a full year yet. It has become obvious that they have hit on a nerve, and have definitely filled a giant niche that was just waiting to be filled (no jokes about filling… things…) and they are capitalizing on our collective hunger.

A few weeks back I was privileged enough to be in LA when they were going to be just a mere 10 minutes away in Venice, so I decided to grab some people and head over. We arrived 30-45 minutes earlier then they were supposed to show up and there were ALREADY PEOPLE IN LINE! Now as we waited, pretty much everyone that was in line in front of us, myself included, got a text at the same time… it was a Kogi Twitter update! Collectively we got a little bit depressed, why? The news was that they were running 30 minutes late. Now our 30-45 minute wait quickly turned into 1h30m wait… wow… who waits that long for portable food?!

As we wait we hear stories from everyone, and they all sound extremely similar… “I was intrigued by it, ended up waiting for way to long, got some food, ate it… I realized it was worth it, and then felt retarded I didn’t get more when I had the chance.” There was one group of people that tracked the truck down for the second night in a row after randomly stumbling upon it just 24 hours earlier. These stories created thoughts of how there is no way this food can live up to the hype!

The truck arrives, and people applaud… APPLAUD?! CHEER!? FOR FOOD!? What is this?! This experience that was weird to begin with, just got weirder… it was almost as if John Mayer himself was driving the Kogi truck. What followed can only be described as “A parking job of cluster fuck proportions!” The 45 minutes late turned into an hour as they attempted to park the truck in the designated area… back and forth… back and forth… literally in the EXACT SAME PLACE. If this were a lawn they would have warn a bald spot due to the increase in wear and tear! But finally… they began to serve…

Thank god we got there early, at this point the line is LITERALLY 300 deep, and we are 12 or so from the front… Upon arrival at the window I order a Short Rib Burrito and Spicy Chicken Tacos, and we stand aside and wait. Now as we wait for my food to arrive let me go off on a bit of a side tangent… I HATE CILANTRO… it is the worst possible food in the whole wide world, and upon inspection of the menu on the Kogi Website earlier that week I discovered that Cilantro is a major ingredient in all their food, but I was still willing to eat it, and I feel this makes me a hero. Finally they call my name, the 2 hour journey is about to end in my stomach… my group and I search for and find a place to dine.

I start by taking a bite of my Spicy Chicken taco (yes with the DREADED CILANTRO) and it is one of the most disorienting feelings I have ever experienced… the standard taco image is turned on its head with an alarmingly different flavor. After a time to recover you realize the flavor is intense, layered, and amazing. Yes I say amazing… something with CILANTRO is amazing. From time to time I would hit a big chunk of cilantro and gag, but over all it was one of the greatest foods I have eaten in recent memory. The burrito was great as well… and it was sealed within a thin but soft burrito sized tortilla. AMAZING.

Now for those of you that are reading my OpBAS you may realize that this experience in Venice is not my only interaction with Kogi BBQ. On Saturday they were going to be closer to my home, and pay a visit to Old Town Orange. My friend (used loosely) Blake has wanted to try their food for a while, and gave up two nights earlier because the line was multiple hours long. Well after attending a victorious Angels game we head over to Old Town expecting that 30 minutes early^[1] would be sufficient. And boy were we wrong…

Upon arrival we see a line that creeps ever so slowly 4-5 people wide around the block. Conservative estimates had to be around 700 people, and we were at the end of it. People arrived over an hour and half early for this food… ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?! Well the line was long (over 3 hours), cops were around (definitely confused as to what the hell is going on, and wondering “WHY AREN’T THESE PEOPLE DRUNK?”), but the food was still amazing.

This time around I ate the Kimchi Quesadilla and the Kobi beef sliders (one is seen above somewhere) and they were both… spectacular. The quesadilla was honestly the greatest quesadilla I have ever consumed, the cheese was plentiful, there were sesame seeds, and there were subtle combination of flavors that just made me happy to be alive.

Essentially what I am telling you is to track these trucks down… part of the awesomeness is the experience of finding them and waiting with other hungry adventurers for what could be hours, to consume to this gorgeous grub.

Other Bits of Information

Kogi’s Official Site
Kogi’s Twitter

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