LA Food Fest 2009

We headed over to the LA Street Food Fest this past Saturday. After we got over the tragic lines (we were one of the lucky ones who only waited an hour to get in), we got down to enjoying ourselves and the immense amount of street food. We ended up eating enough to satisfy ourselves for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and neither of us spent more than $25.

We had a plan of attack once we got in: one of us would wait in a popular long line (Ludo's Fried Chicken was our obvious choice) and the other would run to a shorter line (like Coolhaus or Del's Frozen Lemonade), pick up two portions, and bring it back to the other. This way we could make the most of our time and sample the most food. Yes, we are food crazed. Here's the low-down on what we got:

After a long wait in the entrance line on a hot, mid-70s day, the first thing we bought was Del's Frozen Lemonade (peach mango and watermelon). The slushies were refreshing - only complaint was that the watermelon flavor was pretty weak.

Next up was Coolhaus (because one should always start the day with dessert). Coolhaus specializes in homemade ice cream sandwiches. We sampled 4 mini flavors - chocolate chip cookies with maple bourbon bacon ice cream, gingersnap cookies with wasabi ice cream, brownies with strawberry ice cream, and brownies with mint chip. Maple bourbon bacon for sure won our hearts with the salty-sweet mix, but strawberry was a close second.

Bourbon brought back some Komodo tacos next. We tried 2 signature tacos (steak tacos with guacamole), 1 cheeseburger taco (you can figure that one out), and a short rib and cucumber taco. Actually, the cheeseburger won! As weird as it sounds, it was delicious! Nice ground meat with good lettuce and cheese toppings, and they had a special sauce that was pretty close to In 'n Outs. We'd get it again.

Bleu ran into some friends while running around and got to try some of Gastrobus' slow-cooked pork with grits and pickled onions. She's a sucker for the creamy goodness of grits paired with tender pork. So obviously she loved it.

Then came Louk's beef and lamb gyro. This is the first time either of us have seen the gyro prepared the true Greek way -- served with french fries inside of it. Yes, this is how they actually do it in Greece and it makes it taste so much better - healthier too, ha :) The gyro was a generous size, with plenty of shaved meat, fresh tomatoes, and red onion, which added tons of flavor.

Time for something sweet- we headed to Get Shaved, the shaved ice truck. We ordered a 3 flavor bowl with POG (passion orange guava), Lychee, and Tiger's Blood. We get a pour of sweet cream to top it all off. This shaved ice stole the day. Up until this point, it was our favorite purchase. It reminded us of the fluffy and silken Matsumoto shaved ice you can only get in Hawaii.

Finally we rounded out the day with the infamous Ludo's Fried Chicken. And yes, for all of you wondering, we waited in a 2 hour and 15 minute line to order the chicken. And then waited 2 additional hours to receive our order. But, yes, that was the best damn 4 hour and 15 minute fried chicken we've ever had. Quick background: Ludo Lefebvre is a famous Los Angeles chef, most notably for serving as Executive Chef at Bastide from 2004-2006. He decided to "surprise" the food fest by taking over a food truck for one day and one day only. The only thing he was selling was fried chicken. Basically, $5 got you 2 (large) pieces of chicken, soaked in buttermilk and rosemary, deep friend in a thick golden batter and served with sweet and spicy piquillo pepper sauce. We think the picture says it all.

All in all, we got to try tons of delicious food. All in all, the day was worth it. But boy did we enjoy a line-exhausted, food coma-driven nap afterwards.