The Del Mar Fairgrounds is usually known for horse races and the county fair — but on a recent Saturday it was transformed into a food lover’s paradise.
Nearly 40 trucks rolled out their kitchens for the Gourmet Food Truck Festival on Aug. 15. Live music and smells of grilled food wafted through the air as guests walked from truck to truck — sampling everything from shrimp burritos to cream puffs.
“We’re on the central coast, and read a lot about the food trucks down in L.A. and San Diego, so we thought it would be fun to come down to the racetrack on the same weekend as the food truck festival,” Michelle Stokes of Morro Bay said.
The festival was not only a testing ground for guests. For some food truck owners, the vehicles serve as rolling test kitchens for future brick-and-mortar restaurants.
Bakery Truck owner Tina Trujillo said that she wanted to “develop [the] menu and experiment on a couple of things” before opening up a restaurant. For Jacob Bartlett, he started Mastiff Sausage Company with his childhood friend, who had experience in the restaurant industry.
Transporting their unique flavors both inside and outside the kitchen is a key feature of the food truck experience, owners said.
Rich Huarte found it a challenge to find authentic New York Rueben sandwiches in San Diego, so he opened up New York on Rye to serve up authentic New York cuisine.
“You get the whole New York vibe,” Huarte said. “I've got this beautiful collage of New York scenes on the truck and people come up and they want to guess who the celebrities are, and they have fun with that. And if people can guess … all four of the celebrities on there, they get free french fries.
The casualness of food trucks helps create a more social environment, said Fernando Bosco, a professor of geography at San Diego State University who studies the geographies of food.
“One of the advantages is that sometimes it brings people together,” Bosco said. “Instead of sitting at a table, sometimes people begin interacting while they’re waiting in line for the food truck."
