THE MAIN EVENT: A DOZEN FOOD TRUCKS PARTICIPATE IN MAY 18TH COMMUNITY EVENT AT GRACE BRETHREN CHURCH FEATURING 27 KIDS ACTIVITIES FROM ADRENALINE RUSHES TO THE PRINCESS PALACE AND MICKY’S LAND.

Grace Brethren Schools in association with Hyper-local Daily Deal Sites SimiDeals.com and ConejoDeals.com Sponsors “The Main Event”; 5,000 Local Residents Expected to attend this FREE ADMISSION event.

Five-thousand plus local residents are expected to attend the First Annual “The Main Event” A Dozen gourmet food trucks have committed to the event. This event follows the “Trucks for the Troops” event that According to the Ventura County Health Department, was the largest gathering of food trucks ever to take place in Simi Valley. In addition to the Food Trucks, there will be two stages featuring over 8 hours of live music and entertainment during the entire 8 hour event. PLUS there are jumpers, games, challenges and adrenaline rush activities for kids of every age, over 40 vendors in our shopping area, 4 silent auctions and 1 live auction. The event produced and presented by Grace Brethren Schools and is sponsored by local daily deal sites SimiDeals.com and ConejoDeals.com, winner of the 2012 Conejo Valley Business of the Year Award.

Terry Gourley, Development Director for Grace Brethren Schools and The Main Event Producer said, “We have been building a strong presence in the Simi Valley community for over 35 years and we wanted to host this event as a celebration of the family lifestyle here in Simi.” “This event is a family friendly format with multiple areas of kids entertainment that fits each age group. From the Princess Palace and Mickey’s Land for toddlers to multiple sports challenges to a 25’ climbing wall, 40’ video game bus and bungee jumping from independent trampolines, we hope the families in Simi experience the old fashioned ‘state fair’ type environment.” Musically, we have Rich Santana Band, Vinyl Rendition, acts from Little Shop of Horrors, the newly released Hannah Rose, 4 worship teams, 2 choirs and a special guest speaker.”

Details on all aspects of the event including menus for participating food trucks is listed at the www.themaineventsv.com and includes favorites such as Haunt Dawgz, Sweet Arleen’s, The Grilled Cheese Truck, Jogasaki Sushi Burrito, The Greasy Weiner, Ragin Cajun, Sam Choy’s Pineapple Express, Tutu’s Shave Ice and many more. There is also a fan page at www.Facebook.com/themaineventsv.

Additional sponsors to date include MB2 Raceway, Waste Management, Lexus Oxnard, American Vision Windows, Camarillo Outlet Mall, Simi Valley Hospital, Union Bank, Logix Federal Credit Union, The Kim Pagano Show, Cal State Site Services, Ronald Reagan Library, REO Speedwagon and many more.

Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/may/10/over-a-dozen-food-trucks-gather-to-support-local-s/#ixzz2T7dAqdCv
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http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/may/10/over-a-dozen-food-trucks-gather-to-support-local-s/

SIMI VALLEY RECORD: 15 FOOD TRUCKS PARTICIPATE IN MAY 4TH FUNDRAISER AT SIMI VALLEY TOWN CENTER TO BENEFIT AMERICAN TROOPS STATIONED ABROAD.

Hyper-local Daily Deal Sites SimiDeals.com and ConejoDeals.com Sponsors “Trucks For The Troops” Event; 5,000 Local Residents Expected to Donate 6,000 lbs. of Care Package Items

Five-thousand plus local residents are expected to attend the Second Annual “Trucks for the Troops” fundraiser benefitting local Simi Valley charity FOR THE TROOPS. Fifteen gourmet food trucks have committed to the event with each truck donating 10% of their profits directly to For The Troops. According to the Ventura County Health Department, “Trucks for the Troops” will be the largest gathering of food trucks ever to take place in the Simi Valley. In addition, every one of the expected 5,000 plus attendees will donate an item for a soldier fighting overseas, which will be incorporated into a For The Troops care package. The event is sponsored by local daily deal sites SimiDeals.com and ConejoDeals.com, winner of the 2012 Conejo Valley Business of the Year Award.

Wendy Jaffe, CEO of ConejoDeals.com and SimiDeals.com, explained why Simi Deals is sponsoring Trucks For The Troops. “Conejo Deals and Simi Deals already support dozens of local charities and schools through our Give Back Program and have donated more than $150,000 back to the community in less than three years. We knew that with our large local database, we could get thousands of our members to donate a For The Troops care package item. Last year, approximately 1,800 people attended the event and eight truckloads of donated care package items were collected. We anticipate that generous local residents will again donate thousands of food items, DVDs, CDs, magazines, batteries, socks, and other items from the For The Troops wish list.”

Summer Johns, Simi Deals’ Community Liaison and Trucks For The Troops Coordinator added, “Due to the success of last year’s event, we have invited over 20 local vendors to the event, and will have a 40 ft. video game bus. In addition, we are excited about the performance by the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, a Meet and Greet with the Simi Valley Police K9 Unit, performances by local dance teams, and great music by local bands Hoodie Weather and BOOG (Band of Old Guys).

Simi Valley Mayor Bob Huber will attend the event and noted, “I wholeheartedly offer my support for the Trucks For The Troops event. I encourage all citizens to support Trucks For The Troops. This event will go a long way to support the For The Troops organization. I am grateful to Simi Deals for supporting such a great cause!”

A list of participating food trucks is listed at the TrucksfortheTroops.com website and includes favorites such as Haunt Dawgz, Sweet Arleen’s, The Grilled Cheese Truck, Jogasaki Sushi Burrito, White Rabbit, MacOlicious, Ragin Cajun, Sam Choy’s Pineapple Express and many more. There is also a fan page at www.Facebook.com/Trucksforthetroops.

Additional sponsors to date include MB2 Raceway, Waste Management, DIY Home Center, First Auto Group, Duke’s Wealth Management, Simi Valley Hospital, Union Bank, Logix Federal Credit Union, The Kim Pagano Show, DayinSimiValley.com, Ventura County Star, All Valley Party Rental, Cal State Site Services, and Walker Architecture.

For the Troops has donated over 74,000 care packages to soldiers fighting abroad and has been featured on CNN. More information on For The Troops can be found on their website Forthetroops.org.

Read more: http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/apr/20/food-truck-festival-to-support-troops-fighting-ove/#ixzz2R87MGKry
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http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/apr/20/food-truck-festival-to-support-troops-fighting-ove/

PHOTO BY KAREN QUINCY LOBERG, VENTURA COUNTY STAR // BUY THIS PHOTO
Kate Johnson, 7, of Moorpark, plays a hybrid version of hopscotch/don’t step on the lines while she waits for her food from The Urban Oven food truck Sunday at Conejo Creek Park in Thousand Oaks. Food trucks were the main draw to the Westlake High School music department’s fundraising event, which also included live entertainment, a water balloon toss and a raffle.

Sales from nine gourmet food trucks along with hot dogs and Italian ices, music performed by Westlake High School bands and the support of more than 2,000 people were expected to have raised $25,000 for school music programs at a fundraiser Sunday at Conejo Creek Park in Thousand Oaks, according to a booster club member.

“It’s a fantastic program we’re supporting, and each year we have to raise about $100,000 for the program,” Susan Cotton said.

Some items the money will help fund are sheet music, bus transportation and teachers pay, Cotton said.

Band director Brian Peter said the fundraiser also operates as a social affair.

“When we raise money, it’s good to have events where it brings the community together and they can spend time together as families and come hear the work the students have been doing,” Peter said.

Many who did not have children at the school attended the event Sunday, such as Robert Slama and his girlfriend, Brandi Cole, who were with their cocker spaniel.

“We bought tickets from one of the students outside one of the local grocery stores and thought we’d check it out and support the event,” Slama said.

“And eat food,” Cole said.

Jeremy Kemp won free ice cream tickets spinning the Food Truck Wheel of Fortune.

“We’re here today to support the Westlake High School band and color guard,” Kemp said. “My family and I grew up locally in the area and have family who went through the band program here and realize funding is tough, so anything we can do to help.”

Jacob Walker, 18, president of the Instrumental Music Council and a musician in the program, helped organize the more than 100 student volunteers and children’s carnival.

“The arts have had the greatest impact on my life. If we don’t support the arts, they’re going to die, and we will lose so much passion and beauty in the world and opportunity for growth,” he said.

Abigail Cohen, 10, and 9-year old best friend, Sammy Wildman, were playing a ring toss game.

“I’m not the best at it,” Abigail said. “But it’s fun. I’m going to eat, too. After all, it’s a food truck thing, and that’s the point.”

Brian Scanlon, a professional touring and recording musician, has a 15-year old son, Avery, who plays guitar at the school. The father said music programs and band directors molded his formative years.

“A program such as this gives the students a great place to become better at music,” Scanlon said. “It grounds them in a program where they can be busy at something artistic, be part of a group and develop as young musicians.”

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2013/apr/14/food-truck-sales-raise-money-for-music-program/

The Westlake High School Instrumental Music Department will host a spring Food Truck Festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sun., April 14 at Conejo Creek Park North, just north of the Grant Brimhall Library, 1401 E. Janss Road, Thousand Oaks.

The event will feature a number of Southern California food trucks. The event is one of the department’s largest fundraisers. Westlake High School supports multiple wind, string and jazz orchestras, marching regiment, color guard and drum line.

Family events will include balloon tosses, a tug-of-war, and three-legged races. Several local bands will perform, including the Parent/Staff band.

http://www.theacorn.com/news/2013-04-04/Schools/School_festival_trucks_in_the_food.html

The Newbury Park High School FHA-HERO Chapter will sponsor a Super Food Truck Block Party from 11 a.m.to 3 p.m. Sat., Feb. 2 at Newbury Park High School, 456 N. Reino Road.

The event will feature four Ventura County food trucks: El Sancho Loco, O Street Truck, Code 3 Concessions and It’s In The Sauce.

Rock Nation Schools will play live music. The event will also have a DJ, craft vendors, activities for children and a silent auction. The FHA-HERO students will sell desserts and beverages.

The event will help raise money to cover costs associated with student participation in the state conference and culinary competition.

FHA-HERO is a pre-professional, career technical student organization that focuses on leadership, citizenship and career preparation for students enrolled in home economics careers and technology classes including foods and nutrition and ROP Culinary Arts.

The block party is open to the community and admission is free.

http://www.toacorn.com/news/2013-01-17/Schools/Food_truck_fundraiser_supports_NPHS_FHA.html

Alberto Vazquez started his mobile catering kitchen, Rock Chef Rolls, after leaving his previous position as executive chef at Mediterraneo restaurant at the Westlake Village Inn. Among the mottos painted on the 8-by-22-foot trailer: "For those about to grub, we salute you." Lisa McKinnon/The Star

While Chad Minton readies new menus at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa, two other area chefs are also settling into new gigs. We catch up with them between courses.

Alberto Vazquez: Even at Mediterraneo, the sophisticated but California-casual restaurant on the grounds of the Westlake Village Inn, Vazquez was something of a rock star, given to wearing his hair in spikes and a wallet chain dangling from underneath his black chef’s coat.

That look didn’t change much when Vazquez decided to leave the inn in favor of starting his own business, a mobile catering kitchen called Rock Chef Rolls (the tag line: High Voltage Gourmet Grub).

But the menu sure did. Gone were the artfully designed flatbread pizzas and charcuterie platters, replaced by grab-and-go dishes arranged under such thematic categories as “opening acts,” “headliners” and “encores” — Vazquez’s versions of appetizers, entrees and desserts. They include beef sandwiches slathered with mustard horseradish aioli, hot-and-cold deep fried ice cream and sweet potato fries served with dipping sauce from Bandits’ Grill & Bar.

The latter hints at the consulting work Vazquez did recently for the barbecue restaurant’s locations in Camarillo and Thousand Oaks. “We’re redoing the appetizers, salads and side dishes, but the barbecue is staying its own remarkable self,” he said.

Vazquez’s focus, meanwhile, is staying on what he calls “The Beast,” the 8-by-22-foot trailer that contains his mobile kitchen.

“I didn’t want a roach coach food truck. I wanted a serious kitchen,” Vazquez said, pointing to the array of equipment that includes two deep fryers and six-burner stove.

With several private and corporate catering events already under his studded belt, Vazquez plans to roll with The Beast to the Big 4 and Stagecoach music festivals later this month in Indio, followed by a hoped-for appearance at the Ventura County Fair.

You can’t miss him: He’ll be the guy in the eyeliner and the bandanna, standing next to the pop-out trailer window that has been painted to read, “For those about to grub, we saltue you.” (855-RCR-2011, http://www.rockchefrolls.com)

West Cooke:After closing Cooke’s Smokehouse, his midtown Ventura restaurant specializing in barbecue and wife Shoshanah’s cupcakes, Cooke helped create the menu for Zoey’s Cafe in Ventura before moving on to Zookers in Carpinteria.

And now? The aptly named Cooke is the chef at a place you might never have thought about in connection to food: The Players Club, the county’s only licensed poker room.

In business since the 1930s at 906 N. Ventura Ave. in Ventura, the cardroom is slated to move later this year to a much larger space in a remodeled former Volvo dealership at the Ventura auto mall. The site at 8250 Auto Center Drive will eventually include a restaurant and bar with a separate entrance.

Cooke is designing the new kitchen for the eatery, which will be located roughly where the dealership’s car bays used to be, he said.

Until then, you’ll find him in the kitchen at the original Players Club, serving usual-suspect dishes along with some unexpected ones, like blackened filet of salmon in puff pastry or a Surf & Turf pairing of wasabi-crusted shrimp with teriyaki-braised rib eye.

“It’s not really like working in a restaurant; it’s like I’m a creative caterer for poker players,” Cooke said with a laugh. “If someone says, at 11 at night, ‘Can you make me some chicken-fried steak?’ I say, ‘Of course.’” (653-9326, http://www.playersclubventura.com)

King Kone of Los Angeles dished out ice cream Sunday afternoon during Surfin West's kickoff spring celebration in Simi Valley. Carlos Chavez/Special to the STAR

When Simi Valley resident Jennifer Alemano-Ortega saw the buttery yellow truck with a big happy ice cream cone on the side parked along Los Angeles Avenue on Sunday afternoon, she knew it wasn’t like any other ice cream she has seen in the city.

Alemano-Ortega soon discovered her intuition was right when she ordered a chocolate chip ice cream sandwich dipped in strawberry-shortcake crumble topping.

“I’ve died and gone to heaven,” Alemano-Ortega said as she bit into the sandwich.

The ice cream truck, owned by King Kone Ice Cream Company, also is unique because it was recently rated as one of the top five best food trucks in Los Angeles by AOL Travel.

The gourmet food truck was invited to Simi Valley on Sunday as a promotional event for the retail store Surfin’ West that also included surf-related vendors and an impromptu skateboarding show in the parking lot.

Another popular L.A. food truck called Whole Lot of Nachos also was invited to Sunday’s event, but had a flat tire along the way.

Kim and Troy Gould, the owners of Surfin’ West, said they wanted to organize an event where food trucks would gather and possibly compete. This was their third attempt at the event. The first two were rained out.

They said they got the idea from seeing shows about food trucks serving everything from Korean barbecue to grilled cheese sandwiches featured on television food shows.

Many of the trucks have become so popular they are followed daily by fans on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.

On the King Kone truck Sunday, Jamey Heath from Los Angeles and John Gullett from Lancaster, helped serve up cold treats such as their famous soft serve dipped cone made of a secret “caramel-flavored” chocolate recipe, and a Rocky Mountain cone, featuring ice cream set on a cone and dipped in chocolate and rolled in almonds. The cookies for the ice cream sandwiches are baked on the truck.

Simi Valley skateboarders Jason Artiga, 16, and Justin Garcia, 17, decided to try the shaved ice with a flavoring called “Tiger’s Blood.”

“It’s kind of a cross between cherry and raspberry. It’s so good,” Garcia said.

Heath said the truck his family owns is usually hired for movie sets, and can also usually be found in popular lunchtime spots on Wilshire Boulevard in L.A. or in Santa Monica.

But Heath said it’s also nice to travel to communities that don’t always see gourmet food trucks, such as Simi Valley where his father lives.

Becky Sage, a self-described “foodie,” said she was happy to see one of the more famous food trucks from Los Angeles come to Simi Valley.

“Some of the trucks serve inexpensive, but delicious gourmet dishes. I’ve actually traveled to Los Angeles to find them, so it’s nice to see one actually come here,” said Sage.