The Georgia’s Smokehouse food truck, which debuted in Santa Barbara this month, serves up gourmet barbecue at several local locations. On Thursday, the truck was parked outside Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital during lunchtime. (Gina Potthoff / Noozhawk photo)

A new food truck is in town, and it’s readily finding a gourmet slow-roasted niche on the South Coast.

Georgia’s Smokehouse debuted in Santa Barbara this month under owner-chef Brian Parks, formerly executive chef of the Coast restaurant at the Canary Hotel.

His wife, Alissa, is also working in the mobile kitchen, which serves up home cooking with a spicy, saucy kick.

Parks told Noozhawk this week that business is gaining momentum at several weekly lunch and dinner parking locations, including at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital and Jordano’s on Eckwell.

A schedule of its parking locations can be found by clicking here.

The couple, who have been planning to roll out the truck for a year, also cater for special events.

http://www.noozhawk.com/article/032113_bizhawk_georgias_smokehouse_food_truck_debuts/

When you think food truck, you might not be thinking gourmet meal, and you wouldn’t be thinking Isla Vista, but you might have to change your preconceived notions. There is a just such a food truck coming to I.V. this weekend, bringing meals that will attract even those who ordinarily turn their noses up at food trucks.

While it’s not impossible to find good-tasting food in I.V., where we are lucky to have quite a number of eateries with appetizing entrees, there isn’t any place that will cook and serve the food on your own doorstep. The O Street Truck is planning on doing just this. It is going to be parked on Del Playa at Camino Pescadero this Saturday from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., offering up sandwiches, fries, and pizza.

All the food is French-inspired with a twist, according to Liz Bradley, the CEO, founder, and chef of Olive Street Table. The menu includes French pastry pizzas, Bahn Mi sandwiches, and tomato-basil soup. The truck is a new addition to the Olive Street business model, which has until now focused on selling gourmet frozen pizzas online and in local stores. However, Bradley said, the “past couple of years have been less than glorious because of the recession.”

Food trucks, such as O Street’s, are a popular trend in many urban areas. “We are taking it out there,” Bradley said. Such trucks are traditionally associated with Mexican food, but about three years ago a company in Los Angeles finally followed suit by selling Korean tacos from a truck, she said. Now a variety of ethnic and gourmet and gourmet-ethnic trucks roam the streets of major cities—New York, Seattle, Portland, etc.

In the Santa Barbara area, however, this is still a relatively new thing. She knows of four others in the area: the Burger Bus, Mobile Café, Culture Shock, and Lickety Split’s.

This won’t be the first time someone has brought a food truck to the Del Playa area. Last year, a UCSB group invited the Mobile Café, which is operated by the Santa Barbara School Districts, to set up on Del Playa. The idea was to find a new way to provide food to hungry party-goers.

The O Street Truck has been making stops in Santa Barbara and Goleta for the past six weeks. It has been parked outside the farmers markets, Allergan Inc., and Commission Junction. “It’s a need,” said Bradley: Employees at big businesses “want food, fast and easy.”

“But,” you may be asking yourself, “why I.V.?” She said, “It is a sophisticated group that understands food.” She added, “It is my perfect demographic. They know what’s hip, what’s happening.” In addition, I.V. also provides a great way to find a lot of consumers in a small area. It is one of the most densely populated areas in the country, she said, second only to New York City.

And Bradley said the prices are set to be reasonable. She called them “street prices”: $2 for French-Vietnamese tacos, $5 for a Giant Banh Mi Sandwich, $4 for individual French pastry pizzas.

Even though the food-truck trend is occurring across the country, tapping into the I.V. community might be just the impetus to get more of these ventures started. The idea of stepping out of your apartment to find O Street’s gourmet yet affordable “Mediterranean, French-Mex, and French-Vietnamese” food at your doorstep might not make everyone salivate, but it definitely stimulates my appetite. Here’s to more of these food-to-you ventures in the future.

http://www.independent.com/news/2011/may/28/food-you/

http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2011/05/santa-barbara-ca-food-to-you/

Paul Wellman The O Street Truck

Turns out that a business plan built around gourmet pizza, no matter how good the pizza, isn’t the soundest of ideas when the economy tanks (see economy, recent). That’s what Liz Bradley found out with her Olive Street Pizzas, lusciously seated on a buttery pâté brisée pastry. After seven years in business selling through Williams-Sonoma, Costco, and Bristol Farms, “We just got spanked by the economy,” Bradley admitted. So she knew she needed to reinvent her company, and that led her to think, “We’re all trend-conscious to some extent, so the food truck, a trend for the last three or four years, seemed to be a good way to go. L.A. invented it, and I’m importing it to Santa Barbara.”

Parking at different locations from Carp to Goleta (join their Twitter feed or check the Web site to get updates), the dynamically red-orange-and-written-all-over O Street Truck is out and about, providing a wonderfully unusual mix-and-match menu. Often, that mix-and-match is on one item, as in the French-Mex tacos or Brie quesadillas. “I’ve always done Provençal, Italian, and French and wanted to stay with those roots,” Bradley said. So that means she can even work báhn mì into the menu, for she says, “I have a relative who is a Vietnamese national who is an insane cook. She introduced me to the báhn mì, and it’s a French colonial’s dish, so it sounded French to me, especially with the baguette.”

O Street Truck will also do its best to bring locally sourced ingredients. “It’s not a hard thing to do in Santa Barbara,” Bradley said. “The vegetables—you can get a really decent price locally.” That commitment to the closest and freshest sources shows up in the quality of the food, such as in an Italian cucumber salad, which seems more Greek to me, but it’s certainly tasty no matter what its country of origin.

And despite the high-quality ingredients, O Street’s prices are reasonable—a mere $2 for a taco, $4 for a pizza on Bradley’s signature French pastry crust. This isn’t a French-bread pizza—it’s more like pizza on a dessert, if for nothing else than the butter content. As the company’s VP in charge of marketing, Molly Mull, put it, “Liz flattened out the galette to make the French pastry pizza.” There’s a reason MGM Resorts in Las Vegas sells Olive Street Pizzas, after all.

Bradley and Mull are also hoping to get a lot of catering business. Since kicking off the business, the company has brought many nonprofits in to sample their food, from the Santa Barbara Boys & Girls Club to the Pacific Pride Foundation. Bradley said, “With this truck, it’s really affordable, and we can do a bare-minimum event for someone and it’ll be really nice.”

Mull also sees the truck doing some late nights in Isla Vista, particularly near fraternities and sororities. Not only will the truck sell, it will sometimes team up with the Greeks for charities, too. Mull also stresses O Street will be very tech-savvy getting the word out, joking, “Twitter and Facebook are more popular than blogs—darn those kids; I read that in the New York Times.”

Mull likes to stress Bradley’s copyrighted slogan is: “Cook with confidence, serve with abandon.” That seems like a perfect theme for O Street, as it offers its locally sourced, wildly diverse, greatly delicious food all about town.

4·1·1 Order up street-side at the O Street Truck; find its schedule at ostreettruck.com, follow on Twitter @oSTREETtruck, or be very 20th-century and call 966-1630.

http://www.independent.com/news/2011/apr/19/ench-mex-and-more-wheels-town/

It’s been a mere two-and-a-half weeks into the O Street Truck’s operation and the team has already proved that it isn’t afraid to change the game plan.

The food truck came charging out of the gate in late March, serving breakfast and lunch at various locations, primarily corporate business parks, throughout the Santa Barbara/Goleta area.

“It’s a little bit of a shotgun approach, we’re trying everything,” said proprietor Liz Bradley. ” We eighty-sixed breakfast. We found that . . . breakfast just isn’t the kind of thing people do at corporate places.”

Owner Liz Bradley, from front, truck operator David Ross and cook Omar Orozco are hopeful that the their food truck will be a business success. Daily Sound/Victor Maccharoli

However, she says, lunchtime and late-night are “working really well.” Stationing a gourmet food truck with eminently affordable menu items outside of the likes of Wildcat, for instance, has inherently obvious potential rewards—and challenges. But O Street Truck isn’t afraid to capitalize.

“It’s an ‘adapt and survive’ attitude, which we can easily do in this mobile scenario,” Bradley shared.

That willingness to try anything and take a flexible approach may embody the optimism and hustle of a young, first-time entrepreneur, charging from the gate—but Bradley, 53, and her tight-knit team are hardly newcomers.

To the burgeoning Santa Barbara food truck scene, sure. But O Street Truck is an outcropping of long-time Santa Barbara-based business Olive Street Table, a manufacturer of French pastry-based products—predominately pizzas and tarts— that can be found in many retailers’ freezers (such as Lazy Acres and Costco).

Bradley, who founded Olive Street Table in 2003, readily shares the realities of doing business in the current economy.

“We had a couple of bad years,” she admitted. “So it’s become ‘how do we recreate ourselves?’ I don’t mean completely, we’re not losing our other channels of trade. But how do we find a new channel to help support this ship?”

Collectively, the Olive Street Table team—Bradley, along with Molly Mull and David Ross—decided a food truck would be that new channel. The truck, a 1993 GMC, was built for them in Los Angeles, a city seen by many as the progenitor of the food truck trend. The O Street Truck’s kitchen, says Bradley, “is nicer than any kitchen I’ve ever been in my life.”

“Seriously,” she emphasized. “And I’ve got a commercial kitchen.”

Taking it to the Streets

For a company that’s never had direct contact with the end consumer until a few weeks ago, Bradley, Mull, and Ross have seem to hit a few things out of the park right off the bat. They’re appealing to the eyes, the stomach, and, importantly, the pocketbook, as they strive to put the truck in front of as many customers as possible.

The truck’s graphic design, created by local artist Maria Rendón, is snazzy and distinctive with its text-heavy plastering of yellow and white on a red background. Ross, who manages the truck’s day-to-day operations, says that he takes advantage of the truck’s visibility, driving it through commercial corridors at times just to be seen.

The O Street Truck carries some products similar to what Olive Street Table has available for purchase in stores:  a couple of pastry-crust pizzas, for instance, that the truck can sell for $4, since they’ve cut out all the middle men and are selling direct to the consumer. Among other menu items, O Street Truck also currently has a tomato-basil soup available.

But the stars of the menu all contain the words “banh mi.” The French Vietnamese-style banh mi sandwiches ($5) contain either marinated chicken or beef on a fresh baguette with cilantro, carrots, and cucumber, as well as a sauce with just about the perfect amount of kick. The truck also serves banh mi-style tacos, just $2, which Bradley says are a hit with the late-night crowds.

While sampling several of the truck’s offerings could result in a typical Santa Barbara lunchtime bill, it’s also very possible to spend $5 at O Street Truck and walk away satisfied—something that is rare amongst restaurants both mobile and stationary in this area.

Mull has taken lead on making sure the truck has places to operate. The truck’s lunch service, which rotates through business sites such as Mentor Corp., Allergan, and Commission Junction, is catching on. Bradley shared the results from a recent day at Mentor, with approximately 150 transactions in a two-hour period. (O Street Truck’s schedule can be found on its Web site, ostreettruck.com).

Restaurant Wars

The time from when the team decided to create O Street Truck until it actually served food was about seven months—much of the delay was due to “jumping through bureaucratic hoops,” said Bradley.

“It’s sort of funny to see the sheaf of licenses that I have just to operate one not-so-small truck,” Bradley shared. “You just can’t go to any city or county place without taking your checkbook.”

“But I guess that’s old news, right?” she said, laughing. “That it’s hard being a business owner? Businesses are leaving California because it’s so expensive and hard to do business here. It’s red tape, it’s lots of dollars. That being said, I’m not going anywhere. “

Another of the challenges in operating a truck-based business—that automobiles will break down from time to time—reared its ugly head the very day that the O Street team spoke with The Daily Sound. Bradley hadn’t anticipated needing a repair a mere 2.5 weeks in.

“My business plan was to never see that truck in the driveway,” she said, only half-joking.

Mull, who joined the company fulltime in July 2009, says that at first she was anticipating a bumpy road in finding places to operate. The truth was quite the opposite.

“There’s been great enthusiasm from the private locations,” Mull said. “I was very surprised that all these people want us on their property.”

She says that the people working in corporate business parks appreciate that when the O Street Truck is there, they don’t have “miles to go” to find a lunch spot.

Indeed, the mobile nature of the truck allows it to cater to markets that aren’t being served by “brick & mortar” restaurants—a primary reason, shares Bradley, that any perceived conflict between mobile food and traditional restaurants is probably overblown.

Keep on Truckin’

O Street Truck is dedicated to perfecting its Santa Barbara-based business, yet Bradley does have some inkling of how she’d like to grow it, should it prove profitable. Her plan is to stay focused on very particular locales.

“Santa Barbara is very sophisticated and people here understand the culture of food trucks. It seemed natural that the culture here would support it,” she said. She also cites the college population—her “two-dollar taco” crowd—as a major catalyst behind the truck’s initial reception. Accordingly, Bradley believes communities with similar characteristics are her sweet spot.

“If I do expand, we’re looking at taking another truck up to San Luis Obispo, or places like Fresno or Sacramento, where it’s not a huge, sprawling urban center, but they’re still sophisticated places,” she said, “… and have college students.”

She characterizes the difference between being a pastry manufacturer and being out on the front lines, dealing directly with consumers, as “so much harder,” but adds that she very much enjoys it.

A couple weeks in, Bradley and her team are still enthused, amid 70+ hour weeks, a variable schedule, and the additional responsibilities of adding on a food truck to the existing business. But Bradley simply says the long work weeks and monumental efforts are “just what it takes.”

“We won’t have a life,” she quipped, “but we will have a future.”

http://www.thedailysound.com/News/041511-OSTREET-SANTA-BARBARA-TRUCK

Hether Briggs is about to launch Eat This! Mobile. Global. Cuisine., a mobile kitchen on wheels catering to visitors to the Lompoc Wine Ghetto and other wineries throughout Santa Barbara County. Briggs prepares lemon grass and other herbs and vegetables used in Thai food Tuesday at her Lompoc home. //Leah Thompson/Staff

When Lompoc resident Hether Briggs describes how her childhood included hunting and butchering game, and helping to cook, can and dry fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables, one might think she’s joking. But she’s not.

Briggs, now 33, will soon morph her life’s culinary skills into a new career, as chef de cuisine and owner of “Eat This! Mobile. Global. Cuisine.”

The name says it all: Briggs will use a mobile kitchen to cook and serve locally grown food. Why mobile? Because she plans to cater to visitors to the Lompoc Wine Ghetto, other wineries throughout Santa Barbara County and other regional businesses, as well.

Think “taco truck,” but take it “one step further,” Briggs said.

She has a soft spot for the culinary needs of the Wine Ghetto, in particular, because she spent eight years working Saturdays for Palmina Wines and watched as the industrial park blossomed from two or three tasting rooms to the more than 12 it now boasts, with a few more production facilities and tasting rooms rumored to be in the works.

Raised by her grandparents in Anderson, outside Mt. Shasta, Briggs looks back on her early years as “sort of where it all began.”

Describing herself as “the kind of

4-year-old who would try to order filet mignon and lobster with drawn butter” while she and her grandparents were dining out, Briggs said she never ate fried or fast foods.

“That’s how I grew up.”

Today, years after she left Northern California for the Central Coast and graduated from UCSB with a degree in English literature, Briggs, who has “always had, like,

10 jobs at once,” is prepared to use her experience in wine, culinary, hospitality, nonprofit, marketing and sales careers to fruition with her new endeavor.

She has worked as a sous chef, private chef, wait person, at Palmina Wines, and doing pouring and event coordination for other wineries, as well.

Most recently, Briggs worked for more than three years as director of a health-based nonprofit organization in Santa Barbara, “living the corporate lifestyle, doing the five- and six-day commute” from the southside home she shares with her husband, Errin, a Santa Barbara County planner.

One Monday in August, the organization downsized, eliminating Briggs’ position. While she spent “about a day looking for a quote, unquote real job,” Briggs quickly decided to follow her culinary passion — and the advice of several of her “best girlfriends” — and began to research the concept of a “mobile bistro,” an idea she’d tossed around in her head for years.

Online, she cast a big net, trolling for similar businesses in Los Angeles, Chicago and London, she said, and found none. Today, “Eat This!” is licensed, her “rig” is in the hands of the Santa Barbara architectural firm On Design, and she’s targeting mid-spring for her debut.

What makes “Eat This” especially unique is Briggs’ desire to launch and run it as a green business. From the tiny kitchen, complete with awning and seating counter, which will be fashioned from recycled steel and reclaimed hardware, to the “environmentally conscious” Verterra serving plates crafted from palm leaves retrieved from the ground rather than harvested, Briggs wants her efforts to have a minimal impact on the global environment.

Her Verterra plate ware is 100 percent compostable within three months, yet able to withstand a hot oven and hold hot liquids, she said. Utensils and toothpicks can be composted, as well, and Briggs’ menus and invitations are printed on recycled paper containing flower seeds, and “can be planted right in your backyard,” she said.

“My business philosophy is to source food locally, since I am close to all the CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture organizations) in our county,” she said. “I am basing my menus on the CSAs’ produce, as well as the fish and farmers markets.”

Lompoc and the greater Santa Ynez Valley will be Briggs’ first choice for ingredients, followed by, in order: Northern Santa Barbara County, the county as a whole, Southern California and the West Coast, she said.

“Will I use New Zealand mussels? Probably not,” when local shellfish is so available, she said. “I’ll be sourcing locally, eating organically and eating seasonally with regional cuisine from all over the world.”

For more information, visit www.mobileglobalcuisine.com.

]]> http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2011/02/cuisine-truck-to-cater-to-wineries/feed/ 1 http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2011/02/santa-barbara-food-truck-to-trek-the-tri-county-area/ http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/2011/02/santa-barbara-food-truck-to-trek-the-tri-county-area/#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:00:47 +0000 MobileFoodNews.com http://www.mobilefoodnews.com/?p=7229 By Robin Gautschi | DailyNexus.com

O STREET TRUCK IS COMMITTED TO THE FRESHEST, LOCALLY SOURCED, ARTISAN INGREDIENTS MADE ON SITE

Mobile Diner To Offer Variety of Inexpensive, Culturally-Inspired Foods to Students, Locals