LA Bucket List #2: The Hunt for the Kogi Taco Truck

Some things could only be born in L.A. The Kogi Taco Truck is one of these things.

The Kogi truck fuses Mexican street food and Korean BBQ. When I think about it, the idea is so obvious I can’t believe it’s never been done before. Consider - When you go to a restaurant for Korean BBQ, you’re brought wonton noodles and thin radish slices in which to stuff the delicious. Increase these in size a little bit and you have something very much resembling a taco. The Kogi people clearly saw this and now we have Korean and Mexican, together at last.

I have been wanting to try the Kogi tacos for ages. They burst onto the scene a while ago and the whispers of their creations began to spread. There is a kind of cult following of these trucks, and rumors of lines hours long started to circulate. Of course I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. However, the Kogi People’s preferred method of disseminating details of their trucks' whereabouts is via twitter. I don’t tweet. Not yet at least – can’t really see the point. Kogi definitely tempted me though.

The Kogi People finally set up shop not to long ago at the Alibi room, Culver City, not too far from where I live, where they serve their creations every night. I thought, “Finally, they’ve come to me!” and yet I still have not been. This was slated for the Bucket List a few weeks down the line. I still felt a pang, though, that I’d still be missing out on the hunt factor.

Enter Christine, former intern/pa who is now working on a project for the company. Also, friend and former prom date in ages past of Kogi family relative. She was connected via Twitter to the Kogi Info line and got word that they’d be down the street from noon to three. She’s a skinny thing with a healthy appetite, and her hunger pangs lead her to exclaim the news. We concocted a plan.

One thing lead to another though, and we got a late start. Eventually, however, we piled the office interns into my car and headed out on a fieldtrip to search out the Korean tacos. It was a very hot day. The sun beat down, my car sizzled. Eventually, we found the truck hidden in the back alley of a building by a residential neighborhood. We arrived at our destination triumphantly and the line wasn’t crazy long. Another member of the line smugly commented that they had announced that he would be the last guest to be served.

THWARTED!!!

To have come so far only to be denied was heartbreaking! I’ve waited so long for Kogi!!! We stood around for a few minutes dumbfounded. Our interns, Max and Lauren, were starving – poor kids – and went and ordered from another nearby truck. A few moments later, Christine had the stroke of genius to see if her friend could somehow remotely help us out. A few text messages later . . . SUCCESS! Word was sent through the grapevine that they should get us in.

Christine, lunchtime heroine!

I ordered an assortment of tacos and a Kimchi quesadilla for everyone to share. Starving, I snuck a bite of the quesadilla while fresh and hot --- a delicious mix of spicy, sour, and cheesy. The rest of the spoils were brought back to the office where we all enjoyed our fest.

The food was great. The tacos suffered a little bit from the lag time in between ordering and eating, and that bit of the quesadilla when it was fresh was by far the best bite of the entire lunch. I’m not sure I’d wait in line for hours, but they were definitely tasty and a uniquely LA flavor.


Plus, the hunt provide for a little lunchtime adventure --- a mini odyssey in the middle of my day