Ahn-Joo Truck

A Korean food truck that serves Korean snacks? Mmm… sounds good to check it out.
I ordered the Bacon Wrapped Rice Cylinders while my friend ordered the Kimbap. Sadly, the Bacon Wrapped Rice Cylinders were the only ones that stand out from the rest. The Kimbap tasted so bland and hard that it wasn’t edible for us to eat the rest of the rice.
Overall, I was disappointed with the food. I would try to give this truck another chance, but it certainly isn’t worth my buck.

Ahn-​Joo was parked at the LA 101 Festival at Universal City this weekend. I got the Korean cheesesteak sandwich and the grilled Nutella sandwich dessert. I was impressed by generous amount of meat in the sandwich. It would have been nice to have had more veggies in it (kimchee, onions, peppers). The cheese was not the usual melty cheese you’d see in a traditional cheesesteak. It seemed like a crumbly queso fresco that was mixed in with the meat, and it added a nice savory note to the bulgogi. The sandwich came with fried potato wedges tossed in sweet chili sauce. I thought the potatoes were nicely crispy and tasty.
The dessert was basically a grilled Nutella sandwich with a smattering of berries inside the sandwich, dusted with cinnamon brown sugar. Also very tasty and nicely crispy. Overall, a pretty good experience and satisfying meal.

I ordered the Soju spareribs and they were burned on all sides. The garlic fried rice under them was passable, but I had higher expectations for this truck. Very disappointed.
Follow up: I tried the Korean Fried Chicken a few weeks later and it was also overcooked and partially burned. WTF, truck?

Southern + Korean Food
They have taken the fusion off to another tangent
So far, it has been a hit and miss among that people I know who have tried this place
One miss was my friend having the kim chi fried rice and being totally turned off when he realized he was munching on uncooked rice or really hard rice
Another loved the Korean nachos
I tried both of their items and I can it was okay
Personally, I can kimbap all day
so would I be back?
yeah maybe

The most overpriced roach coach on the road.
$ 9.75 for a spicy chicken and rice bowl? $ 11.25 with a small bottle of water? Okay, I’ll give it a try, but the quality and/​or taste better be restaurant quality… Because those are sit-​down restaurant prices.
Honestly, the chicken was tender and nicely flavored with a good char and marinade. However, it was an average, verging on small, serving at best. The grilled pepper slices were a nice touch, but the slices of cold cucumber salad thrown on top was just okay.
The real miss was the rice, which was undercooked. Tasted like Uncle Ben’s rice, which to me is unacceptable with Korean food and my ultimate pet peeve with some Asian restaurants… How can you not get the rice right?
Finally, a word to the food truck purveyors: C’mon and get proper bowls and not a flimsy and leaky paper basket. With prices like that, you can afford it.

Can’t say I’m super impressed with this place. Stopped by for a snack since I hadn’t had lunch yet and wanted something quick to go.
Wait time felt extremely long for an order of spicy chicken skewers, which weren’t too bad. Less on the spicy side, more on the salty drenched in a sweet soy sauce side.
Their menu looks amazing though and they describe their food with all the right words, but I don’t think they delivered. I’d skip out and save my $ 10 for something else, like a better food truck.
Nothing against Ahn-​Joo, just didn’t feel like it was my thing.

There are at least five pieces of partially-​chewed spare ribs in my trash can right now, and it pains me greatly to know that I wasted so much food. I am a proud owner the clean plate club badge, which is discernible by the layer of rolls around my midsection, and this fat bump signifies an allegiance to eating every bit of edible food put in front of me.
This plate of spareribs… inedible. The flavor was delicious — spicy, sweet, smoky, but biting into the piece of meat was like biting down on a leather belt. The ‘kimchi’ bed was just chopped raw Chinese cabbage drizzled with real kimchi juice, and bits of over-​fermented kimchi hidden among the starchy leaves.
The tofu/​japanese eggplant skewer sounded better than it looked/​tasted. It was just a lightly grilled tofu chunk with a lightly grilled Japanese eggplant coin drizzled with spicy soy sauce. Failed to impress, and I was disappointed it didn’t bring more to the table than the simple description.
Their pricing was inaccurate as well. their website advertises solid, rounded figures, but each item was bumped up 25 – 50 cents at the LAX Gateway to Go lot. What gives?
At $ 7.50 the plate of spare ribs was an amazing deal, but that’s only if at least 70% of the food is consumed. With only about 30% consumed from my plate, this was highway robbery.
My original order was supposed to be the fried chicken, but they didn’t have the pickled daikon. I know most people wouldn’t care about this as much as I do, but fried chicken simply cannot be called Korean without the white crunchy goodness on the side. Order taker looked disappointed, if not annoyed, that I decided against ordering this on grounds that they didn’t have this crucial ingredient. YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND.
Wouldn’t be compelled to visit this truck again, unless I suffer a debilitating accident and become amnesia-​stricken, and forget that I ever had this experience.

SOUNDS better than it LOOKS better than it TASTES.
PORK BELLY FRIED RICE ($ 5)
According to the description… twice fried pork belly, peppers, scallions and garlic rice.
Sounds like a sure thing right? You’d be right unless the rice is overcooked and bathed in soy sauce… and if the pork belly is tough and has minimal fat… not good. If you advertise pork belly, it better have some gawdamn FAT on it! To make matters worse, the pieces of overcooked pork were few and far between. Jalapenos, scallions and hints of garlic were a nice addition at least.
All in all, I’ll have to admit that it wasn’t ALL bad… it just simply wasn’t ALL that good.
Sadly, plainly… JUST A-​OK.
I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again… please don’t insult my pork sensibilities… the belly of pork is meant to be celebrated… not hidden under rice.

This place wasn’t anything special.
I ordered two skewers:
— Kimchee citrus pork w/​fuji apples
— spicy chicken w/​korean peppers
Neither was impressive. The pork was ok. I couldn’t tell that it was marinated in kimchee at all. It just tasted like pork. The apples were ok, but they really didn’t add anything great. The chicken was dry. The peppers were probably the best thing I ate and not all of them were good.
Would not recommend this place.

I went against my personal Unilocal standards and tried a place rated lower than 3.5 stars, because I saw my lovely CM Katie B. had enjoyed what I wanted to order just a week before! Next time, I might have to just trust my Unilocal instinct.
At CicLAvia Sunday, we happened upon a small queue of food trucks across from MacArthur Park… I got so excited, because there were two that I had heard of and wanted to try… I figured a Nutella crêpe from the Creperie truck would be a less nutritious lunch, so I opted for the recently-​reviewed-​and-​approved-​by-​Katie B. Ahn-​Joo truck for some Korean nachos.
How could one go wrong with braised pork, kimchee salsa, and rice cakes? Easily, apparently.
The meat was good, but very scant. The kimchee was hardly noticeable, which is highly unlike any other kimchee. (Normally, you can taste it for hours after consumption!). The rice cakes were terrible — they were chewy, tasteless, and aborbed all of the orange grease at the bottom of the tray. The meal was definitely not worth the $ 7.60 it costed.
Also, the wait was pretty significant for hardly any people waiting.
Overall, I would not recommend stopping by this Brisk-​endorsed food truck. Next time, I’ll just go with the sure-​bet — Nutella crepes from «the other guys».

Korean Nachos… who’s even heard of such a thing?!?
Sometimes Asian Fusion really comes through in the clutch.
I was recently at an event and wanted to expand my culinary horizons, so I stopped by Anh-​Joo and was bombarded with signs for «Korean Nachos,» so since I am a sucker for over the top branding, I ordered a plate of those. Instead of chips they use these chewy fried rice cakes that are cylinder in shape and smothered in smoky chile queso, soy-​braised pork, and kimchee salsa. I didn’t want the dish to end! I am now always on the look out for this truck and their GQ-​approved Korean Nachos!

Sadly, it was just okay.
I found the truck inside the LA Coliseum during a recent USC football game. I really wanted to try it. I wanted some Korean Fried Chicken (KFC). I bugged my friends all through the first quarter and halfway through the second quarter until they agreed to come with me before the halftime rush.
The order:
— KFC with pickled daikon & seoultown spuds ($ 10)
— Kimchi fried rice with twice fried pork belly and korean peppers ($ 10)
I really liked the KFC. The chicken came as good sized drumstick pieces and was tender with a crispy, sweet glazed outer skin. Now, about the potatoes. They were not good; very mushy. I thought they were supposed to be fried?
The kimchi fried rice could have been better, too. It wasn’t spicy at all. Definitely not what I expected.
Overall, it was 3 stars. Nothing spectacular. However, it was nice to have Korean food in the football stadium! It was a good change up from the usual American fare.

A couple of weeks ago, at the Wholly Rollers Food Truck Festival in Encino; I spent time waiting on line at an average Singaporean truck. The wait was long, but went by quickly because I was on line behind a woman named Dee and her boyfriend Carlos.
I promised Dee that my next stop was Ahn-​Joo, the truck that employs her as Sous Chef. it turns out I never got a chance to find them. After the other trucks, i just wasn’t hungry enough to give them a fair shot.
Until today that is. Ahn-​Joo was at the Harman business park on Balboa in Northridge. Dee wasn’t there as she doesn’t work on the truck, but the other two nice ladies promised to let her know I finally kept my promise.
But I only had a 2.5 star meal. They offer a combo for $ 8.00 which unlike most trucks is the price before tax is added. So for $ 8.75 I got 2 bacon robata skewers, 3 (not nearly enough) Pork Pot Stickers. served on a bed of Egg Fried Rice.
Each skewer has 2 pieces of bacon-​wrapped robata which is bacon wrapped around a rice ball. The menu says it comes jalapeño ponzu, but I sure didn’t taste it, or any spice for that matter. It was tasty, but rather small. the A la carte price is $ 3.00. I would have felt a little ripped off if I ordered it separately.
The pot stickers were mediocre as well. There were only 3 of them; they were pan-​fried and just a tad over done in my mind. Again I felt 3 was a bit chintzy. They offer 2 choices. I could have had kimchi, but since it was my friend Ciera’s birthday, I had the pork in her honor.
The fried rice was fine as a side order. but it was plain enough, that i wouldn’t want it as a main course. I may be beating a dead horse here, but once again I have to complain the portions were small.
One last point; most of the food trucks in LA post prices including
when I saw my meal was going to be $ 8.00; I pulled out ten dollars, expecting I would tip 2 bucks. When I was told I owed $ 8.75, I didn’t reach for more money I simply threw $ 1.25 instead of $ 2.00 in the tip jar. I didn’t do that for spite, but I did do it for my convenience. I guess you can say the employees paid the tax, not me. I gotta wonder how many times a week that happens.
This would have been a 4 star meal if the price was lower or the portions larger, but I am wavering between 2 and 3. I will round up because Dee and the ladies on the truck today were all so nice.
«Gourmet Food Truck #58 on my never-​ending quest to try every truck in So Cal»

Because my eyes naturally gravitate towards the larger of almost everything, I subconciously skipped the small and medium items on their menu and went straight for the kill.
Tried the Korean fried chicken and the Korean nachos. 3 orders of fried chicken, mind you. The korean nachos were a total miss for me. They were so saturated in grease that I couldn’t pull out any other flavor out of that little heap of rice and other things. The fried chicken was alright. Crispy, caramelized sweetness, but nothing that stood out to me at all.

Anh-​Joo came to OC!!!
I couldn’t help but try 3 different dishes from this truck since they don’t come around that often. I am totally stuffed, to the least.
The first dish I tried was the Korean Fried Chicken. This was my favorite dish of all three. They were crispy, tangy, sweet and juicy with a side of pickled daikon. Delicious! I would definitely order these again.
The second dish was the Korean nachos this one was my least favorite. I love regular nachos but fake nachos and rice cakes didn’t work that well together.
The final dish I tried was the stir-​fry kimchi with pork belly. You have to eat the pork belly and kimchi at the same time or the pork belly seems a little gelatinous. Tasty still the same, if you are a kimchi lover like me.
Thank god, for my girlfriend coming along or I wouldn’t have been able to eat all this food! ;) haha! (btw… Debbie Lee was there with her doggy. I kind of felt like I saw a star.) lol lol.

This truck has been on the USC Health Sciences Campus a lot these days so one day I went to check it out.
They have lots of small Korean-​inspired bites and snacks. More like small meals, I guess. I was in a BIG hurry that day because I had to be at a meeting by 12 and it was 11:55 when I ordered my food. I told them I was in a hurry and they were soooo awesome about it! They got my food to me in record time and I was able to get to my meeting in time! Yay! Service is so friendly and great!
As for the food, I got Combo #1 which includes 2 small skewers, egg fried rice, and some kimchi + a drink for $ 6. For the skewers, they recommended the salmon so I got that. The food was overall pretty good but the portions were very small, not worth $ 6 in my opinion. The whole thing came in one of those small french fry containers that your In N Out fries come in. But I guess this truck is more of a snack truck so you probably shouldn’t expect large portions anyway.

WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT! Bad truck!
The gf and I went to the OC Foodie Fest 2010 and tried several trucks all which were great EXCEPT Ahn Joo. We waited like 40 minutes to get the food. We ordered bacon wrapped rice cakes skewers and kimchi pork skewers –Total = $ 6
Let me describe the skewers: the pork skewers were pathetic. Each skewer had 2 small chunks of pork and a small apple chunk. After waiting 40 minutes, what the hell did we wait for?! The pork was small, dry, and too chewy. BLEH! And the apple tasted like an apple. They didn’t attempt to flavor the apple.
The bacon wrapped rice cakes were not any better and only got 2 pieces per skewer. The bacon was undercooked and limpy, too salty to go with the rice cakes. Rice cakes were burnt on the edges and small. BLEH!
What a waste of time and money! Next time I have $ 6 Ill make sure Ill go to the store and buy some Little Caesars dog food (Filet mignon flavor of course!) and put those on a skewer. I’m sure it will taste Better.

Another one of my lunch truck hunt. Checked out the truck map and saw this truck would be close to my office.
Emailed my friends and the 6 of us went to hunt it down. But wait a minute… why the map location was different with where they said they would be. So we drove around and the map was wrong. We wasted 15 minutes of our lunch going to the wrong place =(
Found the truck and there was no line maybe because of the wrong map location. The service was friendly and fast.
I got Korean Nachos ($ 7) and kimchi citrus pork, rosted fuji apple robata skewers (2 skewers for $ 3).
Korean Nachos: rice cake cylinders with chili queso, soy braised pork and kimchi salsa. I liked how they use kimchi instead of traditional salsa. The combination of cheese with the pork didn’t do it for me. It was good if the pork wasn’t too salty. I couldn’t even finish half.
Robata Skewers: A great deal for $ 3 and I liked the fuji apple but my pork was hard and chewy. I was disappointed.
3 stars!
Anh Joo is almost yummylicious!

A Korean Snack Bar!
I just barely skimmed the surface of Ahn-Joo’s potential, but I appreciate them giving me that opportunity to do so. You see, AJ breaks their menu down by portion size. At the Long Beach Food Festival, I wanted to try as many trucks as possible, getting just a small taste from each. AJ’s «Small Grub» list of delectables was perfect for my needs, and the first item on the list jumped out at me instantly.
The Robata Skewers: Bacon Wrapped Rice Cylinders, with Jalapeño Ponzu. As we all know, anything bacon-​wrapped is instantly delish. The rice cylinder was packed tight and was very chewy. The bacon (of course) complemented it nicely. The Jalapeño Ponzu was good, but I expected a little more of a kick.
I definitely regret that I forgot to order some of their Kimchee. The service was kind of slow, so I didn’t feel like reordering/​rewaiting. I voiced my regret out loud actually, and a girl standing near promised to offer me some of hers when it eventually came out. I think she was joking. I guess I could’ve creepily lingered to take her up on the offer, but I’m not good at that.
Anyways, there’s plenty more on AJ’s menu that I’d love to try. If given the opportunity again, I’ll surely take it.

The 1^st Dinner Ahn-​Joo was out on the streets just so happened to be on the street I live on.
I thought the name was cute-it’s common that Koreans always eat while drinking and ahn-​joo means the food that accompanies alcohol.
So I had to stop by and get the Korean Nachos again since the last time I had them at Chef Debbie’s pop-​up Seoul Tapas.
The Korean nachos were good-​dukk heaped with braised pork, queso, and kimchee salsa on top. Last time I had them I remember there wasn’t so much cheese (which I liked better).
I also got to try the grilled nutella bhang which had fresh blueberries in them-​great dessert.
Ahn-​Joo Truck incorporates Korean food with a twist so much better than the Kogi Trucks-​go track them and try it out!