The Four Seasons Food Truck is back!

September 18, 2014 Margalit Sturm Francus

In an incredible reversal of fortune, the last few years have dramatically improved the industry and food trucks are now synonymous with clean, budget-friendly and even gourmet dining. The factors leading to this were the ongoing recession, chefs being laid off and diners wanting affordable and quality food on-the-go. Chefs started providing their cuisine out of these mobile kitchens, advertising their daily location on places like Facebook and Twitter. Nowadays, you will find elementary school kids along with high-ranking managers and partygoers patronizing these vendors! In the major cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City, some dedicated fans will drive across town daily to a Food Truck just to get their favorite edible fix. It, therefore, came as no surprise when the prestigious Four Seasons Hotel announced that it was joining the fad, rolling out its own Food Truck. Last year it drove around California, Arizona and New Mexico for two months, stopping at eight of their properties, serving dishes with produce from local farms, and contributing to the ‘Chefs to End Hunger’ charity. After reading the press release, we decided it was time to take the proverbial plunge and finally eat off a food truck! We caught up with the Truck when it came to Los Angeles from Northern California after driving down the West coast. Out of all the LA slated locations, we chose to go to the Four Seasons Hotel in Westlake Village as there was plenty of parking and less traffic at lunchtime. As we pulled up, we were thrilled to discover that they were just opening and setting makeshift tables in the front of the hotel which meant people could sit down if they desired instead of standing and eating their food. My son with autism was fascinated with the Californian-Canadian Fusion menu while I waited excitedly in the short line to sample food truck food for the very first time in my life. The menu included three types of burgers: a Mac Cheeseburger, Veggie Burger, and the more popular Billy Burger while the Braised beef short rib tacos garnished with Salsa Verde and Jicama slaw represented Southern California’s cuisine. Since the Truck’s visit coincided with the traditional Oktoberfest the Enegren Beer Brat garnished with blonde ale mustard and sauerkraut in a pretzel bun was added to the menu. The sides offered were a strawberry and kale salsa with Manchego cheese, shallots, cactus, and a tarragon yogurt ranch dressing, and a Tater Tot Poutine, a nod to the chain’s heritage which are cheddar cheese curds, generously topped with cilantro, and house bacon gravy. For dessert, the Truck menu offered what they called a BOB-bag, which was a bag of mini beignets dipped in cinnamon sugar powder and the drink choices were waters, sodas, coffee or Hadrishi iced tea. We opted to split an excellent melt in the mouth beef taco, a sweet and flavorful Billy Burger with CAB beef, bacon, gruyere and arugula in a brioche and a bag of beignets that were unfortunately on the dry side. The highlight of our truck meal was the sinfully addictive Poutine which we regretted not having the insight to order a second portion to bring home! Overall, we loved the quality food and the unique truck experience, and we were very much looking forward to a repeat visit this coming year. We were a bit disappointed to learn that the program is indeed continuing this year but will switch to traveling from Boston to Miami instead. The good news is that our friends on the East Coast will get a chance to enjoy the delicious street food. The Truck is scheduled to stop in nine cities between September 15 and November offering local specialties like crab cake sandwiches and pit beef tacos. If you are interested in sampling the food, and I highly recommend that you do, follow the Four Seasons Truck’s hashtag on Twitter to discover the specific daily locations, or check the truck’s website for additional information. https://youtu.be/c8E7rA6jJJY [mappress mapid=”54″]]]>