orange county food trucks

Have you heard about the “Food Trucks” at

 the Orange County Fairgrounds?  

Every Thursday from 11am-2pm, 

there are a variety of food trucks that park 

near the awesome farmer’s market. 

 They all offer different gourmet specialties. 

And I guess not all the same trucks are there every week. 

They change it up, which makes it fun.  

You never know what you are going to discover!

As my friends and I walked up yesterday, I felt a little overwhelmed, in a good way, like a kid in a candy store.  EVERYTHING looked sooooo good!  I didn’t know where to start!  But in keeping with my heritage, I felt like I’d be betraying my homeland if I didn’t try the Argentine Chimichurri Truck named “Piaggo”.  

As I stepped up to the window, my knees were weak with excitement and probably also weak because I didn’t eat breakfast. I felt like the big bad wolf inside!  Grrrrrr…just let me at those empandas!! So, I tried to stay calm and ordered 2 chicken empanadas, a milanese sandwich, and a Mexi-Coke. I mentioned to the owner how excited I was to try their food, and she threw in a free caprese empanada. 

I went to find my friends, Linda and Nancy at a table nearby. They had ordered the "Santa Fe Baker", an open-faced baked potato from “Spud Runners".  It was topped with grilled lime cilantro chicken, cheddar cheese, tomato, fire-roasted green chile, cilantro, red onion and chipotle ranch.  It looked really good, and they were happy with their selection. To drink they had fresh raspberry lemonade and blueberry lemonade. 

Well, it was time to dig in, and I wasn’t disappointed!  The Milanese sandwich was outstanding.  I’m really picky about bread, and this sandwich was served on a really good focaccia bread that was slathered with chimichuuri, and had two very thin breaded chicken cutlets (milanese) on it with lettuce and tomato. Yum! The empanadas were the best I’ve had in Orange County and almost as good as my mother’s.  

empanadas with chimichurri

chicken milanese sandwich

santa fe bakers two different ways

We shared our table with a cute couple from Fountain Valley who are regulars, and they were raving about the cupcakes, which they had never had before.  She had the Mango Cupcake, that had little chunks of mango in the batter, and he had a Coconut Cupcake, that looked really good and homemade.  

I was too full for dessert, but my two choices would have been a Churro with Dulce de Leche from “Piaggio” or a homemade cookie & ice cream sandwich from “Chunkinchip”. 

The seating area was very comfortable and everyone dining was really friendly.  (Check at the end of this blog for more locations and days for the food trucks.)

coconut and mango cupcakes

a huge bacon cheeseburger = joy! 

As my friends and I were chatting and munching away, there was a bit of a commotion starting up next to where we were sitting.  All of a sudden, there was loud music playing and, uh, instant mini-FLASH MOB…

 ZUMBA DANCE!!  

Oh, boy, I was hoping I didn’t have to get up and dance! 

And, luckily, I didn’t.  It was a really unexpected and fun surprise. 

They did a great job, and everyone cheered them on.  When they finished, they all had a little “Superman moment”, as they shed their normal shirts and revealed their YMCA shirts underneath. 

It turned out to be a Zumba group from our local YMCA.  

Very well done!

After we left the food truck area, we walked a few yards over to the Farmer’s Market to check it out.  I ended up buying a Tiramisu to go from “Mangi con Amore”. Perfect, I could have my dessert when I got home. 

I also couldn’t resist some fresh apricots. Nancy and Linda also picked up some fresh produce.

I will be back next week to check it out again.  Most of these trucks have a following on facebook and Twitter, and their own websites.  Here is a list of the trucks that were there this week:

The OC FOOD TRUCK

The Flying Pig (Asian/Pacific Rim/French)

Piaggio (Argentine)

Chunkinchip (ice cream & cookie sandwiches)

Dos Chinos (Latin Asian Grub)

Spud Runners (potatoes)

Calbi (fusion tacos and burritos)

The Burnt Truck (gourmet sliders)

Oh, for Sweets Sake (cupcakery)

I’m looking forward to next week.  

Maybe I’ll see you there!   

ciao! fabiana