Korean BBQ Taco Truck
Yesterday my co-worker told me about a new lunch truck, a Korean Kalbi taco truck, in the parking lot of Chase bank at the intersection of Castro and El Camino. I met the owner, Thomas Lee, and it was his second day in the lunch-truck-business. Thomas wanted to start his business in Mountain View because our downtown area is so walkable, residents are friendly and it’s a hip, diverse crowd that hangs out on Castro Street. If he does well in Mountain View, which I’m sure he will, he plans on expanding to Palo Alto or Sunnyvale.
The reason I was so excited about this particular lunch truck was because I had heard about a few Korean taco trucks in Los Angeles area that have a huge following. They post their location on Twitter and Facebook and customers get in line even before the truck arrives. It’s a big deal! The food is amazing—it’s cheap—and it’s trendy—and the people love it. And now we have it in Mountain View!
The most popular item on the menu (at least for the last two days) was kalbi (beef short ribs) in the form of a taco or burrito. That doesn’t mean it’s Mexican food; it just uses tortillas to hold the Korean food inside. Think of it as a hybrid of Korean and Mexican food. Thomas told me that he uses a bit of kimchee flavors on the lettuce for the tacos and burritos. He’s really focused about the quality of his food and only uses the highest quality ingredients.
His truck will be parked at Chase Bank for lunch (11:30-2:00) and in the evening hours (7:00-10:00) he will be across the street from Dana Street Coffee. There’s an auto repair business, GTS Auto Center, which has given him permission to park in their lot. This is really very gracious of Chase Bank and GTS Auto Repair to allow Thomas to park his truck in their lots. Big business helping little business is always a good thing and we’ll all know where to go when we want to open a checking account or get our oil changed.
Welcome to Mountain View “Bulkalbi Korean BBQ Truck” and thanks for sharing your parking lots, Chase Bank and GTS Auto Repair.
I don’t think is the same guy that you mentioned, Peggy. He’s new to Mountain View. (He picked our city because we’re so friendly and diverse.)
Is this the same guy that ran “Tom’s Tacos” truck? Roughly same locations? Not as good as Kogi, but a nice change from Mi Pueblo!
Love korean food and love burritos. When the two come together it’s like time stops and your in pure bliss! lol. @thomas keep up the good work and I will check you out next time I’m in need of some “bliss”.
just tried them for dinner and thomas. we had the short rib taco, the spicy pork burrito and the kimchi quesadilla. It was all soooo tasty! I will be a frequent customer!
Portland has the best carts. When I shared that MV has a new ethnic food cart, with my friend in Portland (formerly from Sunnyvale), she responded:
There’s a new cart pod (that’s what they call groupings of food carts up here) that has a deal with a new pub next door so that people can bring in their pod food and eat/hang out as long as they buy a beverage. Sounds like a perfect answer to the same old pub grub!
Sharlene, the head chef was sick on Monday. He tweeted that he was out for the day. Follow him on Twitter: “BBQKALBI” and I always re-tweet what he says. I’m “Heidi_writes” on Twitter.
I tried to find the truck at Chase bank at 1:30 today (Monday), but it wasn’t there. We also checked GTS Auto Repair, just in case, but no truck there either. Looking forward to trying it though.
Hi Thomas, I’m following you on Twitter. (Heidi_writes) Glad you’re here to help feed the hungry MV masses.
Thanks for stopping by Heidi!
We love doing business here in Mountain VIew.
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter (@bbqkalbi)!
Hope to see you again soon!
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by Heidi_writes: Trendy new Korean Taco truck started business in Mountain View this week. Let’s go get lunch…http://bit.ly/cDjdsl…
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