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At a quarter past 2 p.m. on a warm and sunny Wednesday in August, a double-decker bus is doing laps in the Miracle Mile section of Los Angeles hunting for a space to set up shop and sell a few late lunches. Even with the dining crush completed, 19 food trucks are parked in the five-block epicenter of the city's latest food craze -- gourmet and ethnic truck dining -- keeping parking spaces full and meter attendants busy.
It's crucial on this day for the WorldFare "bustaurant" -- they say it's the world's first bus-to-restaurant conversion -- to find a space in the mid-city area known as the home of E!, Screen Actors Guild and the L.A. County Museum of Art. They have a concert booked: Alejandro Escovedo will be performing atop the bus for passers-by and diners and, as is the custom for mobile food enterprises, the event has been heavily promoted on Twitter and various websites.
That concert, which eventually occurred close to 3 p.m. in front of 5750 Wilshire Blvd., was also being billed as a first. Escovedo, the Texas songwriting legend touring to promote his album "Street Songs of Love," was booked to perform atop the WorldFare truck, first in Santa Monica near the offices of Yahoo and Universal Music, and then on the Miracle Mile, where they would wind up squeezed between a trucks specializing in Brazilian food and Korean BBQ.
The connection between rock 'n' roll and food trucks, subtle to some and obvious to others, owes to the phenomena's origins when these trucks found hungry customers departing clubs and concerts late at night. The club-going kids spread the word, through Twitter mostly, and soon the truck owners saw social media as the path to branding. Booking Escovedo to do two half-hour promotional sets before performing a proper show at night was a natural in the evolution of the music-food relationship.
"Music and food go hand in hand in building communities," WorldFare owner Travis Schmidt said after Escovedo performed six songs in Santa Monica. "Anything new is a risk. Putting a performer on a bus is a risk, but we've got 75 to 80 people listening. Pretty good for an event put together in three days."
Schmidt, a South African native who worked in restaurant supply before putting the keys in the ignition of WorldFare in May, sees his entire concept -- installing a sit-down eating area on the top level of the bus -- as a risk. Cuisine-wise he's not selling a food as easily identifiable as a taco, burrito or even banh mi; he's selling variations on "the bunny," a concept popular among working class South Africans that is essentially hollowed-out loaf of bread stuffed with meat or vegetables.
A cryovac machine, an immersion circulator and a phone
The concept is explained in depth on signs around the camouflage-green WorldFare bustaurant in addition to photo collages and their slogan "taste the love, love the taste." What is not written anywhere on the bus or its menu is the name of the executive chef Andi Van Willigan. The lengthy part of her resume is as executive sous chef for Michael Mina, a post she held for 12 years during which time she set up 14 of his restaurants including XIV in Los Angeles.
The shorter section of her CV is her work the past two seasons as the red team sous chef of "Hell's Kitchen," a job she'll likely return to when the next season begins shooting in the fall. Schmidt and Van Willigan met during her stay in Los Angeles -- she was on the road 270 days a year -- and he presented the idea to her when she was starting a Mina restaurant in New Jersey.
"I had an epiphany while I was in Atlantic City: What am I doing? Who will remember me?" she recalls. "And then I talked to him and he wanted to do fish and chips in the bus. I said 'not in L.A.' Give me three things and we can talk -- a cryovac machine, an immersion circulator and a phone."
In further discussions the food concept broadened to be more of a "melting pot," and the marketing angle became focused. They would sell a high-end version of the "bunny," make workday stops near offices and find apartment and condominium complexes that would welcome their presence as a dinner option at night.
The staples on Van Willigan's menu are hearty. Her short ribs are cooked for 15 hours sous vide in a homemade Worcestershire sauce; the pulled pork is braised at low temperatures for an equal amount of time then pulled and cooked with homemade barbecue sauce, the secret of which is smoked vegetables. A Thai-inspired chicken curry is mild and coconut-based. There's a vegetarian option as well and sandwich specials wherein, she says, "I get to have fun."
On concert day, lunch sales in Santa Monica were on the low end of their usual range -- 80 to 120 served -- and the Miracle Mile stop did minimal business. But Schmidt had a new collection of fans he might not otherwise reach: employees of Concord and Rounder Records who work on Escovedo's recordings and the singer's fans.
Escovedo became a fan, too, greeting Schmidt with a handshake and the declaration "your food is delicious." Schmidt is negotiating with a performer for a second concert in September.
Phil Gallo is an entertainment journalist who writes about music, television, theater and film in addition to food and wine.
Photo:
Alejandro Escovedo and his band perform atop the WorldFare Bustaurant in Los Angeles.
Credit: Phil Gallo
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