I was invited to a tasting recently: Would you like to go to a tasting at a Korean taco truck? I thought, huh?? And then, cool! Let’s go!

We tasted all the tacos: chicken, pork, beef, tofu. And Chef Roy also made some sliders that he’s working on perfecting. Since I don’t eat beef, I can’t comment on those items.
I will say that I really liked how all the meat was cut into very small pieces, it makes for nice texture in a taco, and the ratio of meat to marinade is high, which is a good thing, because the flavors were really good. My favorite was the pork, terrific smokey, savory and slightly sweet flavors.

Each tacos came with separately dressed, nicely chilled lettuce, and sprinkled with some sesame seeds. The dressing is tangy and a nice complement to the meats. The tacos also came with a wedge of lime or orange for even more nice flavors, great touch.

I was only able to taste a piece of tofu from the tofu taco. It tasted kind of bland, but that could be in direct contrast to having eaten immediately prior, all the marinaded meats. Still, the tofu may need some work.

We didn’t get to try the burritos, and I definitely look forward to tasting those. This is a really great and fun concept, and the execution pulls it off. I sure hope they start driving that taco truck near my hood.

Last month, I was online reading through my email when one came in with a subject header that immediately piqued my interest. Simply, I saw the words “Korean Taco Truck” and my world stopped. Korean Taco Truck? Even before I opened the email to read, I was ready to drive to wherever that truck happened to be parked just to check this food out. It almost didn’t matter that I was snug in my pajamas at 11:00 pm in the suburbs.

Finally, I opened the email and it was an invitation from Alice Shin, PR person for Kogi BBQ, to attend a Korean taco tasting. A melding of Korean and Mexican flavors definitely intrigued me and I was already to RSVP Yes until I saw the date. :( Unfortunately, I already had plans that night, so I thought all was lost. Luckily, thanks to Kogi BBQ Founder, Mark Manguera, I was able to arrange a private tasting for me and a few friends this past Saturday.

As I was driving to our meeting place, I actually end up parking behind the Kogi BBQ taco truck, which wasn’t hard to miss. It had a brightly orange and red sign with the Kogi name in black on the back of the truck. By the way, the word “Kogi” means meat in Korean. On hand for our tasting was Mark himself, his wife and co-founder, Caroline as well as Caroline’s brother, Website Administrator/Photographer, Eric Shin and Chef Roy Choi, former Executive Chef of Rock Sugar.

From Mark came the story of what sparked the creation of Kogi BBQ. Apparently, it started with a few bottles of champagnes that led to a discussion of how in Korea, street food was the best way to sober up, which in turn led to the subject of taco trucks and voila, a Korean taco truck was born. As for the menu, the recipes themselves are a collaboration between Caroline and Eric’s mother and Chef Choi.

For this tasting, we got to sample 4 different tacos and one surprise addition. One tidbit from Chef Choi is that there is a different marinade for each of the proteins as well as a different dressing for the salad and sesame seeds that tops each taco. I really like the fact that he really thought about what would pair well together.

My first bite was of the Korean chicken taco and I really appreciated how the meat was charred to a golden brown, giving it a light smoky taste. I also liked that the chicken had a just grilled taste to it and that the splash of chili sauce added a much appreciated kick. Then I sampled the Korean short rib taco. I loved how the grill gave the meat a wonderful caramelization that was both sweet and richly satisfying and with just a squeeze of lime, the flavor marriage of sweet and tart made this taco my favorite of the four we sampled.

Next came the sweet smoky heat of Korean spicy pork taco, which made my tastebuds quite happy; however, a squeeze of something quite unlime-like added a different dimension altogether. On all the plates that our tacos came on, orange wedges sat side by side with the lime wedges. At first, I thought the oranges were some kind of palate cleanser, but Mark actually encouraged us to use it as an alternative to the lime. He’s definitely on to something. A squeeze of orange juice on my pork taco added a wonderfully refreshing citrus-y component that really hit the spot.

If you’re a vegetarian, you were not forgotten. Kogi BBQ also offers tofu tacos. Compared to the other three tacos, the tofu tacos were my least favorite and not because I don’t like tofu either. The tofu needed more flavor and I wasn’t that enthralled with the silky texture of the tofu itself. Now if that tofu was deep fried and perhaps marinated more, it would be a different story. Also, regardless of which taco you chose, the nice thing about them is that all the meat are cut into smaller pieces. That means that you don’t have to worry about a big piece of meat hanging from your mouth just because you couldn’t bite it off. What a relief!

In addition to the meat fillings, I also liked the dressed lettuce and sesame seed mixture that topped all of the tacos. The salad was light and enhanced the flavors of the tacos without detracting from them. One thing I personally would like to see is the addition of more “crunchy vegetables” that I can add to my taco experience. Thankfully, there’s already some thought into creating some kind of kimchee/radish slaw and/or using cabbage as a way to add additional texture to the tacos.

After four tacos, we thought we were done, but Chef Choi decided to surprise us on the fly, with short rib sliders on Hawaiian bread rolls. How cool is that? I think the concept is great, but I think that there needs to be some additional recipe development. For my particular palate, it was just too sweet. The addition of the mayo actually helped cut that sweetness a little bit, but just not enough for me. I should add though that some of the tasters in the group liked the sliders as is, so it could just be preference on my part.

One thing that I forgot to mention is that along with the tacos, you’ll be able to order burritos using the proteins mentioned above as fillings. In fact, you can even order a breakfast burrito, which contains eggs, hash browns, cheese as well as the meat of your choice. I could see myself scarfing down a short rib breakfast burrito topped with a little chili sauce for my first meal of the day. How about you?

Overall, it was a great experience. Mark, Caroline and Eric were great hosts and Chef Choi’s food was fantastic and definitely memorable. I am officially a fan and I’m definitely looking forward to not only tasting even more of Chef Choi’s fusion creations, but also seeing how far this venture will go (hopefully, well enough so that a Kogi BBQ taco truck will one day be hanging around in my neighborhood).

Currently, Kogi BBQ can be found at the Cabana and Green Door off of Sunset and Ivar in the evenings when they’re out and about, but to keep track of them, you may want to follow them on Twitter and/or check their websie for scheduled locations and times.

It was a different experience than a normal taco truck-. we sampled both the tacos and burritos of the following short rib, spicy pork, tofu and chicken The food was fantastic and the Chef even gave us a sample of his " Kimchi Quesadilla" my favorite

Chef Roy, Mark, and the boys are inside the truck while Alice is out front taking orders. It’s a very different kind of taco stand where not a word of Spanish is spoken – because they’re all Korean.

Culturally speaking, the Asian/Mexican fusion has few surprises as you might have had something similar to a taco in Chinese restaurants called ‘Moo Shoo,’ which is stir-fried meat and vegetables in a thin flour pancake. But it’s Chef Roy’s blend of flavors, textures and heat that make the Korean taco truck so unique, and his attention to detail that make a visit to the truck a culinary experience.

I enjoyed a smorgasbord of tacos and burritos including beef rib, chicken and tofu, for a special Pleasure Palate tasting. They also have a spicy pork but I don’t eat pork. Chef Roy offers different specials everyday and today was the kimchi quesadilla. Que picante! They also offer sliders and hot dogs topped with the BBQ but that was not available to the tasters.

If ordering more that one item from the truck, I discovered the key to enjoyment is the order in which you eat them. Save the beef or pork items for last (they’re the tastiest) So start with the tofu or veggie stuff and your taste buds will thank you.

It’s easy to hunt the BBQ truck down from their website and find out when they’ll be nearby.

So why only 4 stars? Because there’s no place to sit and enjoy the food except in your car.

Kogi is an ingenious idea – its basically a Taco Truck for Gen Y (and those that are tech savvy). Part of its built up hype and cult following is that you have to chase after it. If you love Twitter, odds are you’ll love Kogi. Its like chasing after that elusive band ‘Fluffy’ from that movie Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Yes, the Korean-Mexican fusion (did you know the owner is Filipino?) is actually a nice compliment of flavors, but the hell if I’m going to chase after a taco truck. Its good, but not that good.

Last December, Abby put together a Pleasure Palate MeetUp foodie event. She arranged for a large group of us to experience the taco truck neat downtown on a late weekend morning with a prix-fixe menu. I couldn’t pass up this chance because it was a private event and it was going to be at a fixed location and the prix-fixe menu was a bargain. None of this chasing around town with Twitter silliness.

There are 4 types of tacos ($2 each) you can choose from: short rib, spicy pork, chicken and tofu. I am not a big fan of tofu, so I skipped that. All the meats had a sweet flavor to them. I didn’t really care for the spicy pork and the chicken was so-so. However, the short rib was tasty.

After sampling the tacos, I tried the burrito variations ($5 each) which is basically like the tacos, but they are much larger and have potatoes. Yum! I still liked the short rib the best and what I loved was how the potatoes complimented the beef.

My only regret was not getting a kimchi quesadilla for myself. I normally detest the pungent kimchi, so I foolishly decided not to order it. One of the folks in my group was kind enough to let me sample her quesadilla. she wasn’t a fan of kimchi either, but both of us liked it.

If you have a large enough group and are organized, you could arrange for a private event with Kogi like our group did. Otherwise, good luck hunting down this elusive beast.