The Foodess Files: Eat St.

The Social Media Week Cross-City Food Truck Challenge is this week. Do you know where your food truck is?

It’s hard to find a cluster of people standing beside a food truck in Los Angeles, who are NOT on their phones. They are tweeting their experience by the minute, instagramming their orders, and if they’re like me, blogging on the go.

The Social Media Week Cross-City Challenge, is a rad way to take advantage of the Great Relationship. And win something along the way.

Street Food + Social Media = True Love Forever.

The contest includes four major international cities: London, Vancouver, Chicago, and Los Angeles. To participate, eaters and vendors must share their food truck experiences with the world via Twitter.

My predictions…?

Watch for The Grilled Cheese Truck to be a early front-runner. Known for their long lines, and inventive comfort foods such as the Short-rib Mac and Cheese Grilled Cheese, and tomato soup shots, this truck has enjoyed plenty of Food Network coverage, and has gotten much national attention. Also, they are very reliable when tweeting their location and their followers tend to be fervent Tweeters. As Roy Choi focuses on his brick-and-mortar efforts, The GCT is the informal heir to the Kogi social media crown. But it has been unbearably hot in L.A., not exactly mac-and-cheese, tomato soup weather. Will this hurt them?

A personal favorite of mine, The Eggslut Truck, serves a lean mean pancake taco, along with clever iterations of eggy breakfast inspired goodness. The concept is original, the food is reliably delicious, and they may benefit from their smart standing engagements outside of popular coffee spots in the city. Coffee and a pancake taco? It’s a no-brainer. But to win, they will have to mobilize their every morning regulars to document their brunch munching on a daily basis.

The No. 1 Currywurst Truck is a relative new-comer to the scene, but it did not appear quietly. Chris, the proprietor is a magnetic and enthusiastic German social media and sausage enthusiast. His shocking red truck is impossible to ignore, but he backs that up with delicious dishes that demonstrate his passion tastily. Currywurst has been an extremely popular street food in Germany for a while, but fills an unseen niche in L.A.

A variety of sausages, a curry laced sauce, formidable crusty roll for dipping, and an apple strudel chaser make this truck a winner. The large amount of services per week, as well as the truck’s constant presence on both Twitter and Facebook (including hilarious videos narrated by Chris himself) should work to his advantage.

Text tweets get 10 points, and photo tweets (Twitpic, Instagram, Lockerz) get 20 extra points.

But since you’re probably more than a little competitive, (know the best ramen in the Valley, favorite bartender knows your favorite cocktail?) here’s how to rack up the most points, and really make every bite count:

Get the Eat St. App, and tweet your pics and comments from there. 25 additional points. Eat and Tweet smarter. The winner is he/she who has tweeted the most street food tweets for their city. Be that person. Be that winner. Share your tweet to @eatsttweet so it can be counted, and include you’re your city’s hashtag so they know where you hang your fork. Los Angeles is #eatSMWLA.

Make sure you include the truck’s name, and prizes include Eat St. Prize Packs, and Whole Foods Gift Certificates!

Eat it and Tweet it, start planning your week now!

http://socialmediaweek.org/losangeles/2012/09/10/food-truck-challenge/