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BBQ KalbiThomas Lee’s BBQ Kalbi taco truck serves lunch and dinner in three different spots every weekday.by Stett Holbrook on May 06, 2010THE BBQ KALBI Korean taco truck rides again, and Silicon Valley is a better place for it. In case you missed my column from a few weeks ago, here’s the recap. Thomas Lee opened a mobile restaurant featuring Korean classics served inside tortillas and slider buns in February. The taco-truck fusion concept started in L.A., and it’s catching on in the Bay Area now. Things were going well for Lee when disaster struck. Lee’s rented catering truck caught fire as he was driving down Highway 101 in March. A leak in the propane line apparently set off an explosion that caught Lee’s seat and vest on fire, causing first and second burns on his arms. Mind you all this was happening while he was at the wheel. He pulled over safely and put out the fire. Later, he learned that the Santa Clara company from which he had leased his truck no longer existed, and the man who claimed to own the truck was not the registered owner. Lee believed that he was a victim of fraud. But that’s in the past now. Lee recovered from his injuries and rented a new truck from a more reputable company. He hopes this one won’t blow up. What is blowing up is his great food. Lee and crew set up shop at three locations in Silicon Valley for lunch and dinner, and they update their status via Twitter (twitter.com/bbq kalbi). I’ve been to their Sunnyvale location near Yahoo’s headquarters. It’s a great scene. Hungry techies with ID badges a-dangling and a growing number of off-site visitors loll about on the suburban office-park lawn eating in the warm spring sunshine to create a kind of impromptu picnic. (Hint to mobile ice cream vendors: Make this one of your stops.) For the quality and price, BBQ Kalbi’s $2 tacos have got to be one of the best deals around. They come with a choice of fillings (kalbi, spicy pork, teriyaki chicken, spicy chicken, unagi and tofu). The kalbi (marinated, boneless short ribs) and pork are superb. The kalbi is delicious—big chunks of slow-cooked beef cloaked in a savory-sweet glaze. The pork is my favorite. It’s only mildly spicy, but I love the nutlike sauce in which it’s cooked. You can doctor it up with the self-serve saucy kimchi or spicy sauce available on the side of the truck. Burritos are $5.50 except for the unagi (eel), which goes for $6. That’s right. Eel burritos. They’re great. Two or three tacos make a great meal, but for something that will hold well into the dinner hour, look no further than the bibimbap burrito ($7). Bibimbap is to Korea what the hamburger is to the United States: a cheap, quick portable meal available just about everywhere. It’s essentially a bowl of rice topped with vegetables, meat and chile paste. Throwing it all in a flour tortilla is an act of genius. Lee patterned his concept after L.A.’s Kogi Korean-Mexican taco trucks but says the bibimbap burritos are his idea. If you ask nicely, Lee with give you a side of sugar-dusted, fried seaweed to sprinkle inside. Paired with all those vegetables, kalbi and a healthy application of kimchi, it’s superb. The sliders ($5) are another great deal: three little buns filled with meat of your choice and chopped romaine lettuce. The buns Lee uses are Hawaiian sweet buns, soft and chewy but substantial enough to stand up to the saucy meat. The only underwhelming item was the kimchi quesadilla ($5). It’s just cheese and kimchi, but somehow it doesn’t combine to make something great. More kimchi would help. But then I like kimchi on everything. BBQ Kalbi See bbqkalbi.com for locations $2–$7. by Stett Holbrook on May 06, 2010 |
 MEALS ON THE MOVE: Thomas Lee’s BBQ Kalbi taco truck serves
lunch and dinner in three different spots every weekday. |
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