Eating Out: Las Vegas Foodie Fest 2013

By Dru Chai

I've attended my fair share of food truck gatherings, and the Las Vegas Foodie Fest was one of the better ones in terms of organization, layout, selection and most importantly... lots of shaded seating, especially in 90+ degree Vegas weather. There's nothing worse than paying admission for one of these things and there's literally no where to sit in a hot parking lot except for a few measly picnic tables. The food trucks were spaced out perfectly -- not too close or too far -- and there was plenty of room to walk around.

If you're a first-time attendee at one of these food truck festivals, you might be disappointed in the long lines, admission prices, and jacked-up prices. Organizing a food truck gathering of this magnitude (30+ trucks) requires a lot of organization, logistics, and planning. As painful as it is, the admission price covers some of these costs. Just like with a BBQ festival, long lines are inevitable. Beat the crowds by going early -- there's no other way around it. Food trucks who traveled from California and Arizona have to increase their prices as well. They have to factor in the price of travel, hotel, gas, and other expenses. Food trucks will also run out of food -- either towards the end of the day or end of the weekend. Go. Early.

White Castle made its first appearance in Vegas, and was by far the biggest draw for the event. Lines quickly swelled and wait times estimated were as long as 3 to 4 hours. Yes, insanity. I spoke with a White Castle regional operations executive and she said she was blown away by the response from Vegas after just the first day. When asked about opening on the West coast, she smiled and said "would you like White Castle more than In-N-Out?" I said definitely not. But if you asked me where White Castle would most likely to succeed, it would have to be Vegas over California. The late night and drunken Vegas crowd would flock to White Castle to get their slider fix, sloppily reciting lines and re-enacting scenes from the beloved cult classic movie Harold and Kumar.

Love 'em or hate 'em, they have a cult following

The calm before opening storm

I tried White Castle sliders for the first time when I lived in the East coast, as well as the frozen ones in the local grocery store. Now that I've had these "freshly cooked" sliders at the Vegas Foodie Fest, one thing's for sure -- White Castle tastes the same everywhere! I'm not sure how anyone can throw down more than 4 or 5 of these sliders without getting bored. The meat is pre-frozen and steamed back to temp on a griddle -- it has no charred flavor. The best flavor comes from the jalapeno cheese slider -- with a sligh spicy kick --and the tartness from pickle slices.

Staff busy cooking those sliders

Staff started cooking hours before opening 

So why were so many people willing to wait in a long line for something they can easily find in their local grocery store freezer section? For most people, it was just for the experience and curiosity, just to say they tried White Castle when they visited Vegas. For others, it was a bit of nostalgia -- either some childhood memory or experience when they lived back East. Some other people I spoke with scoffed at the long lines, saying that the long lines weren't worth it, and that the sliders tasted like "cafeteria food." Love 'em or hate 'em -- White Castle sure makes an impression one way or another.

Shortly after opening, two long lines formed, easily a few hundred people

Many were buying multiple Crave Cases, 30 sliders each case

BBQ food trucks were well represented, this one based in Arizona

Q UP! truck's "Gangsta" mac and cheese, brisket and bacon, on sourdough

Logo for the Super Q BBQ truck from San Diego

Another BBQ truck, relocated to Vegas from San Diego

Seoul Sausage, winner from last season's Great Food Truck Race on Food Network

The Maine Lobster lady truck based in Scottsdale, AZ

Who needs to fly to Maine for a lobstah roll?

OC Foodie Fest '11 & The Food Truck Craze

Who knows how long the food truck craze will last, but it looks like it's here to stay for the time being. I can still remember the 'ol days ('09) when there were whisperings of some food truck named Kogi roaming around the streets of downtown LA. What were they selling? Korean-Mexican fusion? What does that even taste like? Little did we know, it would set off a food truck firestorm.

Hey, I admit it, I was curious just like everyone else. So as soon as I heard the Kogi truck (via Twitter, nobody back then even used it) would be anywhere near Orange County, I drove about 30 minutes just to wait in line and try their food. Call me a fan. Out of the dozens of food trucks I've tried over the years, Kogi is still my favorite food truck. Any good BBQ food trucks, you ask? Hah, do pigs fly? Oh wait, there is a food truck by that name...

There are lines... endless lines for... food trucks.

In all fairness, it would be awfully tough to sell legit, low-n-slow, smoked BBQ from a food truck. Obviously you have tons of "fusion" BBQ, but not very many traditional American BBQ trucks. Most of the BBQ trucks I've seen simply sell pulled pork sandwiches or brisket sliders. I've tried a few, and nothing knocked my socks off.

Flash forward 2 years, and we've got food truck festivals and gatherings up the wazoo. Of course, there's even a TV show dedicated to food trucks. If it's one thing the food trucks learned quickly, it's that unless they have a well-established legion of fans like Kogi, they better huddle together like the cool kids in school. More trucks = more people = more business.

Not just for foodies, but for everyone

The OC Foodie Fest '11 is an awfully large food truck festival coming up this Saturday, August 27th. There's quite a loooong list of food trucks participating, and it's sure to be another packed house. I think the organizers learned a lot from the initial event last year, and they're ready to give it another go this year. The question is, how much food truck grub can you really fit in your belly?