LA Street Food Fest – Hit or Miss?

I was so excited for this day to come. The First Annual Los Angeles Street Food Festival! Woo Hoo!

Basically, this was a large gathering of 35 of LA’s popular mobile food trucks in one location. The idea was marketing genius, except for one little problem. Execution.

I knew there was trouble brewing when the day before the event a message went out on the LA Street Festival Facebook page asking for volunteers to work 4-hour shifts due to an unanticipated popularity of the event. The Facebook page alone had over 6,000 “Fans”. The odor of “uh oh” was wafting through the air.

I arrived at the location at 11:00 am, the advertised time doors would open. Since I had pre-purchased “VIP” tickets for $25.00 (I got $5.00 off for early purchase) I didn’t anticipate much of a wait. VIP’s had a separate entrance, there was a limit to the number of tickets sold, etc., etc. I mean, that sort of implies that you shouldn’t have a hard time getting in. Truth be told, getting in was fine once they started letting us in. It was that whole thing about .. you know .. actually opening the doors!

The General Admission line ($5.00 entrance) was ridiculous. It went down the block, around the corner, weaved in a zig zag through a parking lot, continued down the block and around another corner before I lost sight of it. Un-freaking-believable.

The GA line actually started entering before the VIP doors opened. Screw up #1 that ticked me off. For a list price of $30.00; you bet your ass I want to go in first and start chowing it up inside. Once checked in, I was told the VIP lounge wouldn’t be open until around noon, and the gift bags would be available around 1pm. Wiggity what?

Off to the trucks I went. Unfortunately, the lines were already forming, and would only get worse. Hind sight being 20/20, I now realize I should have just gone to any truck that had a short line. Instead, I made the error of going to a truck I was looking forward to trying (The Buttermilk Truck), but that had a long line. It took me over 30 minutes to get to the window to order, once you ordered, you had to wait another 10 minutes or so to get your food. So, 40 minutes or so into the event, and all I had to show for it were 3 very small (but delicious) red velvet chocolate chip pancakes.

I went to find the Dogzilla booth, but that line was just as long as the one I had just gotten out of. I checked the Grilled Cheese line, and it was even longer than the Buttermilk one. Same went for several other trucks I had been itching to try. I ended up in Uncle Lau’s line, and wasn’t disappointed. By that point, I was so hungry I ordered one of each of the three sliders they were offering and took them with me up to the VIP lounge where I hoped to cool down … literally and figuratively.

I picked up my “Goodie Bag”, which had some discount coupons for flower delivery (FTD), a jar of BBQ sauce, light purple nail polish by Opi and some other flyers/ads. Know what would have been really welcome at that point? A DAMN BOTTLE OF WATER. I mean, COME ON!

There was a really small line at the bar. Drinks were complimentary, and tasty, but everyone seemed to be tipping .. as they should. There were only two food vendors in the VIP area, I swear the hype made it seem like there would be more. One was the Dim Sum vendor, who will have a truck on the street in the next couple of weeks. The samples were very good. The other was the Fry Girl, who makes fresh mini donuts right in front of you, and they were DELICIOUS! There was also someone serving what looked like tea, but I didn’t get any of that because I had my cocktail.

I spied on the event from the balcony, looking for any signs that there was at least one vendor that didn’t have a 30minute line. No such luck. I don’t know if they need to have an attendance cut off next year, or maybe more trucks so that people can spread out more, but if they do this again, they need to rethink things.

Personally, I think for $30.00; I should get in to the event an hour before the $5.00 general admission people. I should get at least 5 “front of the line” passes. There should be more food options in the VIP section .. this IS a FOOD FESTIVAL, after all. I think for my $30.00; I should get at least ONE bottle of water, or have a damn Sparklett’s machine in the VIP area.

I hope I remember all this by the time this comes around next year. IF they do it again.

Too Many People!

Ridiculously crowded