It’s quite interesting how this is becoming more of a food blog of sorts. It seems like everything I do involves trying out different places to eat! That is not necessarily a bad thing.
Today’s post is about the Vesuvio food truck. During our quest to find a place to eat lunch near work last week, Allan came across the Vesuvio Food Truck. Originally its Yelp review had four stars, but somehow it has gone down to three-and-a-half stars since last week. This Italian owned and operated Italian food truck roams around different areas of Los Angeles on a daily basis. Unfortunately, they were no where near work last week; however, they were scheduled to be just a few minutes away today, at the Skechers headquarters down Sepulveda Boulevard in Manhattan Beach. I sent out an Outlook invitation to Ji, Jeremy, and Allan so that we wouldn’t forget the truck would be around today and so we would be sure to try it out. It was a good idea that I had sent out that invitation as I had forgotten all about it until I received the event alert in my Outlook calendar at work.
Unfortunately, Ji was home sick, and Jeremy had to administer an interview. Nonetheless, Allan and I went ahead and ventured out to try this Italian food truck. They had a variety of items on the menu, ranging from sandwiches, pastas, and various other items to desserts. After taking a few minutes to peruse the menu, we decided to order a few items. Allan wanted to try the Italian hot dog special, which came with a soda. I wanted to try the cannoli with Nutella and the arancini, which is an Italian “rice ball” made of rice, diced salami, parmesan cheese, eggs, salt, and pepper. The rice is rolled up into a ball with a mozzarella core, breaded and deep fried, then dipped in marinara sauce. Unfortunately for me, they were out of cannoli, so being a fan of Caprese salad and balsamic vinaigrette, I decided to spend my money on the Caprese skewers instead. I gave up dessert for a salad in skewer form.
I didn’t think of taking photos until Allan reminded me, but it was too late to get a photo of his Italian hot dog since he had gobbled it all up too quickly. You can still see part of it, though! In my opinion, the Italian hot dog looked flavorful and had a lot of delicious looking toppings. From what I remember, it looked like it had grilled peppers, among other things, and some sauce. When I asked him if it was delicious, Allan said it was, but it tasted like any other hot dog, except fresher.
Here we have the Caprese skewers; just your average Caprese salad, except stuck on sticks and served with two pieces of garlic bread. I think it’d be really hard to go wrong with a Caprese salad. I must admit that the one thing I did not enjoy about these skewers was the inclusion of olives. I’m personally not a fan of olives, but I’m sure others who are would have enjoyed this extra ingredient. Typically, from my understanding, a Caprese salad consists of tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil, drenched in balsamic vinegar.
Now these “rice balls,” the arancini, were a bit more interesting. I was excited to try these when I saw them on the menu because I had noticed quite a number of Yelp reviewers posting photos of these “rice balls.” Several reviewers recommend the arancini, with one reviewer writing, “The rice balls are definitely a must on this truck.” I must admit, they looked absolutely delicious. Who can resist a deep friend snack sprinkled with cheese? We took the food back to our work building and ate at the tables outside. The trip back didn’t help to sustain the heat to these poor “rice balls,” unfortunately. By the time we tried them, they were a bit cold. Don’t get me wrong; they were still delicious, but they probably would have tasted even better freshly cooked and hot. I would recommend ensuring that your arancini is covered in a good amount of marinara sauce. The inside was flavorful, and the texture was great. Biting through the crispy breaded outer shell and getting to the softer, ingredient-filled inside is all part of the fun.
I would love to try other items from their menu, perhaps a sandwich or maybe the ravioli. Their prices are pretty reasonable. The portions aren’t great, but they’re not too bad. To give you some perspective, the arancini cost $4.00 for a set of three.
If you’d like to find out when the Vesuvio food truck is coming your way, visit their website or follow them on Twitter.
