Food Truck Adventures 3 - Korean BBQ Taco Box

***A quick note, on Thurs 9/15/11 the Korean BBQ Taco Box will appear on Fox 35 News in Orlando during the 8am show.  Check them out!
It sounds completely bizarre.  Korean food, BBQ, and tacos all mashed together?  Crazy sounding but absolutely delicious, as I found out when I visited the Korean BBQ Taco Box II when it was parked at the corner of Alafaya and Colonial one Friday afternoon. 

This truck is unique not only because of it's culinary exploits, but also because there are FOUR of these trucks. Most of the food trucks I've noticed are 1 truck.  However, as they get more ambitious, and more popular, the Korean BBQ truck expands it's number of trucks.  This is great for a few reasons.  They serve they same food, so you're getting the same product.  But there are different chefs on each truck, so it's interesting to see if there's a difference in the quality of food.  This also means the trucks can be in different locations at the same time, and that's wonderful for people who are spread throughout Orlando, but want a fix of their favorite food truck.  Another advantage to the multiple trucks is that they can be at a Food Truck event, such as the Oviedo Food Truck Bazaar, yet still serve customers who can't make it to the event in other locations.

Now let's talk about the FOOD!
The menu has so many items it could make your head spin.  There are short ribs (galbi), beef (bulgogi), pork and chicken.  You can get the meats in a box with rice, they can be subs, or you can get the meats in tacos.  There are appetizers such as fried cheese rolls, or chicken wings.  The menu comes with pictures, so you can see what your pick will look like. Also, the menu has good descriptions, which is important when deciding what to pick. 
I'm a big beef fan, so I knew that was going to be my meat of choice.  There beef is labeled bulgogi.  Bulgogi means "fire meat" in Korean.  This does not mean it's spicy necessarily, it just means that it's cooked over a flame.  While I think in this instance the beef is cooked on a flat top, it's marinated in a traditional Korean style that has a lot of flavor.
And I was at the Korean BBQ Taco Box, so I chose to have my meat in a taco.  The taco was a large flour tortilla filled with the bulgogi (beef) and lettuce.  My box also included a 2 fried cheese rolls, salad with ginger dressing, a chicken wing, fried tofu, and an egg omelet roll.  The salad was standard, just some iceberg lettuce with a ginger dressing, similar to what you get at a Japanese steakhouse.  The chicken wing had a delicious coating and sauce.  It was sweet and spicy at the same time.  You could see the flakes of red pepper, which definitely indicates some kind of heat involved.  The tofu was breaded and fried, and was topped with a yummy teriyaki sauce .The fried cheese rolls were interesting (and tasty!), and topped with a special sauce.  I wish I could describe the sauce better, but it was creamy and nicely spiced. 
Now about my taco.  The meat was delectable!  Tender, great flavor, a little saucy.  In retrospect, I should have just gotten the beef with the rice, because I really am not a huge fan of flour tortillas and I definitely do not like warm lettuce.  Warm lettuce is one of my pet peeves, and I usually order my tacos and sandwiches without it.  That being said, I would absolutely get the beef again. 
If you're not a beef fan, you can also have galbi, which is marinated pork short ribs, or you could go for their spicy pork.  If you're a chicken fan, you can get it in the forms of their spicy wings, chicken teriyaki (but only if you order the rice box version), or in the taco and sub it's marinated pieces of chicken thigh. 
The prices at the Korean BBQ Taco Box were some of the best I've seen from the food trucks.  All the food I purchased was only $5.99.  And it was a lot of food!  All the items on their menu are either $5.99 or $6.99, so you really can't go wrong.  If you would like to check out their menu, or see what they're about, visit http://kbbqbox.com.
I will doubtlessly be back to the Korean BBQ Taco Box. The food was good, affordable, and they have several locations they can be found at everyday.  These are hard working people who are making excellent food truck cuisine.  If you're in Orlando, get out there and try them!  They can easily be found on Twitter and Facebook, and they do a great job of updating their Twitter every day with their locations.

Picture View - Tacos

Shrimp tacos with spicy chipotle coleslaw, tartar sauce, and fresh salsa

 

 

Shrimp taco fixings

shredded chicken for chicken tacos

deep frying corn tortillas

draining corn tortillas

chicken tacos before toppings

Taco Night - Home Cooked Recipe 6

I think having tacos at home is something everybody loves.  You can make the filling whatever you would like, you can set up a taco toppings bar so that people can add whatever they enjoy on their tacos, and tacos are extremely easy, and fairly quick to prepare. The following recipe is not an exact one, I wanted to give a general rundown but allow for a variety of options.

Tacos:

1 lb of ground beef (you can also use sauteed shrimp, shredded chicken, pork, or refried beans)

1 packet taco seasoning mix

1/2 cup water

1 onion, diced

tortillas - flour or corn, whichever you prefer

 salsa

sour cream

shredded cheddar or mexican cheese blend

shredded lettuce

diced tomato

sliced olives

*for shrimp or fish tacos, i have coleslaw on hand - it makes a great taco topper - you can also have tartar sauce ready for shrimp or fish tacos*

Beef Tacos

Brown the ground beef with some onion.  If you are using shredded chicken, just heat through.  Add your taco seasoning packet and 1/2 a cup of water.  Simmer on low for about 10 minutes.  Your filling is done!

Heat up your tortillas.  The best method for heating flour tortillas is to wrap them in a damp paper towel and microwave for 1 minute.  There are several good methods for corn tortillas.  I like to keep mine pliable, so I deep fry them in 375 degree oil for 4 seconds per side. Drain well on paper towels.  If you want to make them a hard shell, you have a couple of options.  If you have the deep fryer going, fold the corn tortilla over the handle of a wooden spoon and put in the oil til shell is lightly golden brown (this takes 15 to 30 seconds, keep your eye on it!).  You can also make your tortillas in the oven if you prefer not to have them fried.  However this baking method is tough unless you have the taco shapers.  So I usually only fry my tortillas.

Set up your filling bar.  Put cheese, lettuce, tomato, olives, salsa, sour cream, and whatever else you like and line them up on the counter.  Put your meat and tortillas at one end of this taco bar, along with plates, and people can top their tacos with whatever they like best.