This past weekend I was invited out to the Art Institutes in Santa Monica to watch a food truck battle. The contenders included the Art Institutes Culinary Team (which included 2 students in the Culinary Arts program at the Institute) against the well known “India Jones” Food Truck.
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The previous week the AI Food Truck was in the Inland Empire where they took on the food truck, “Truck Norris.” The AI Food Truck won out in that competition.
Right before the competition commenced both teams were called over where the secret ingredient was to be revealed:
The secret ingredient: KIWI
The teams then took to their trucks where they then had 30 minutes to come up with a recipe that included the secret ingredient. A recipe that would bring out the flavors of kiwi, and a recipe that was innovative and well thought out.
First I checked in on India Jones to see what they were up to.
And then I headed on over to the AI Food Truck to check in on what they were up to:
The secret ingredient they added to make their “recipe” cold.
They were definitely hard at work.
But it looks like India Jones finished their recipes first, and was headed to the judges table.
But AI wasn’t far behind. Both of the dishes can be seen here. The AI Food Truck came up with their recipe “Kiwi Sorbet.” And India Jones had 3 different recipes which included kiwi in all of them: A salad mixed with kiwi, a lackee kiwi (yogurt drink) and a chicken kiwi wrap mixed with chutney. I was quite impressed with the innovation from both teams.
We watched as the judges tried out the recipes. This was them talking with India Jones on their creations. Jesse from the Lime Truck and Sky from the Sky Gourmet (CEO and Founder of Sky’s Gourmet Food Truck.) Both of these two have been on “The Great American Food Truck Race.”
But in the end, there could only be one winner:
A big congrats goes out to the AI Food Truck Culinary Team on their win during this challenge. That makes them 2 for 2. There are still 2 other locations the Food Truck Battle will be happening at:
Cooking Battle – September 13, 2012
4:00 – 8:00 p.m.
The Art Institute of California – Orange County, a campus of Argosy University
3601 W. Sunflower Avenue
Santa Ana, CA 92704
Cooking Battle – September 22, 2012
1:00 – 5:00 p.m.
The Art Institute of California – San Diego, a campus of Argosy University
7650 Mission Valley Road
San Diego, CA 92108
An hour prior to the battle beginning you were able to try out food from the AI Food Truck and the other food trucks who are at the location. At the Santa Monica Location they included: India Jones, Sky Gourmet Food Truck, and The Fry Truck (I tried their Apple Fries, and let me tell you, yum yum yum.
This is what the AI Food Truck was serving prior to the competition. A Koffdog, Sweet Corned with Candied Bacon Soup, and a pulled BBQ Duck Slider. I couldn’t pick a favorite of the three. And the combination plate only cost me 10 dollars.
So stop by one of the future locations, and enjoy the competition. Word on the street is that Jesse from the Lime Truck will be competing against the AI Food Truck on the 13th in Orange County.
Disclosure: I was invited out to witness the competition, and I was allowed inside the food trucks to capture the action taking place. I paid for all food tried at this competition. All opinions are my own.
