It appears this event has been gathering some of the best food trucks together at Bates Nut Farm since 2012 when these so-called mobile kitchens were quickly scattering themselves across much of San Diego. In the years since, this event has kept bringing some of San Diego’s best food back to the same location.

I had attended some years back after meeting some of these Chefs and “truckies” that make up this event, when some of these same trucks appeared near my workplace on a regular basis for a little over a one-year period. Luckily today, most of my visit at Bates Nut Farm, was a visit with just one of those food trucks. It’s where I got the scoop on this years Valley Center Gourmet Food Truck Festival.

Amongst the planned 15 food trucks (yeah, there was probably 13-15) I yell, “Steves” (yes, there is supposed to be an ‘s’ at the end), as I approached Underdogs Gastro Truck, basically serving gourmet sausage sandwichs. Steves are two guys named “Steve” that are what make up this particular specialty truck. I have just become used to calling them that . . . as many friends of their truck have become used to doing the same. I continue, “Where the hell is everyone?” Steves replies, “I think it must be the heat”. I mean this place was dead.

I figure only about 150 folk  . . .  at the entire event, were here at any one moment to grab a bite or shop the art and craft vendor booths. Steve again chimes in, “Yeah, we are usually sold out by this time . . . this has always been our best event”; referring to the normal one day attendance of better than 5000 eager truck diners.

Today, while approaching the festival location, the other original “Dick” (yeah, I got lucky today) kept commenting, “where’s all the cars . . . where’s all of the people?” As we delved further, nothing materialised . . . no one was around. There were no lines, there were no children and I bet . . . there were no animals; referring to the heat probably had them hunkered under a shady spot in their farm enclosures. I did not go check on them.

In years past, just about every food truck would have a line that was a 20 minute wait until you actually ordered your food. Then another 20 minutes to get it. Today, you could walk up to any truck and immediately order, and probably receive your food before you finish paying. The trucks were dead, but ready, anticipating a crowd rush at any time. It never happened while we were there. Our friends and I felt bad for the vendors participating today. Although, with very few potential patrons, the trucks did seem to be selling . . . that’s a good thing. We grabbed some desserts from Sweet Treats Desserts truck before heading back down the hill to our friend’s house that had a pool, a refrigerator, . . . and a grill.

I spoke of this event with another food truck operator just days before. He was preparing for the Del Mar Food Truck Festival taking place the same day. He said of the heat at Bates Nut Farm during this event, “it is often times inescapable when working inside of these trucks”. That’s why he now performs comparatively in Del Mar with 40 trucks each year. I think this year he might have a good idea being closer to the beach’s today 89 degree weather. As we drove away at about 5:30pm, my truck thermometer was indicating 100 degrees in Valley Center. All of this heat  precedes indicators of a rumored “El Nino” weather phenomena’s impending approach to the region. It was damn hot!

Now I looked up a bit on this Valley Center event happening at Bates Nut Farm. If we take the normal attendance and do the math, that’s about $4000 bucks gross for each truck. Unfortunately, I don’t think these guys made their take on what they had hoped. I even scored some sausage inventory from Steves as I walked away from the event. Steves uses a very good sausage from a local provider. Steves agreed to sell me some inventory because he realized, otherwise he was going to be eating a lot of that sausage if not. I took some of that inventory back down the hill and grilled them tonight, along with having those deserts, and having a “hanger” steak nearby, and some wine . . . made for a nice finish to this otherwise uneventful day in Valley Center.

Don’t misunderstand me; this is normally still a great event for the family. There’s was also a kid zone that can keep the youngsters happy while mom and dad chow on their parmesan French Fries. Today there were no kids . . . or very few; yet the kid activity vendors were still making a few bucks also. What I did notice today was the giant-kid-ball (I guess the kids climb inside of it) -on-water vendor, did not have any water this year . . . hmmm.

Well, we made our way to the beer garden after following some very informative signs only to find the only smart people (obviously not the sign people). They were the ones sitting under some shade sipping a cold one . . . or two, or only the three beers being offered at the beer garden today. In this craft beer inundated North San Diego County event, there were only three beers to chose from . . . and NO Imperial Pale Ale (IPA’s) . . . and no wine. The other Dicks says, “Isn’t it a requirement to have an IPA if you’re having a beer garden in San Diego?” We both kind of agreed that this was a pretty bleak beer garden for an anticipated 5000 attendees. The area of the beer garden was very small and sat as far away from the stage where the band was performing. The band only played a couple of songs as we got to the garden area until they took their first break. A quirky kind of cover music band made up of a three old guys that seemingly just didn’t play very well; I only heard two songs though. I guess it would have been ok if I had been in the beer garden for a while (drunk!).

So I think the weather got to everyone. The other “Dick” and I had discussed potential reasons as to why the lack of attendance. My suggested answer was the fact that food trucks are a dime a dozen nowadays. In other words, tomorrow there is another food truck on another corner in San Diego. The food truck festivals are also a dime a dozen now in San Diego. Essentially saying there really is no reason for customers to even come out in the heat, when in the near future (just not tomorrow, literally) it will cooler and there will be another food truck festival happening nearby, where the families can relax a bit and enjoy the event . . . without trying to get out of the heat.

Dick

. . . It’s a saying that I had learned when I was in the Navy. It means to be at the battle’s edge . . . ready to engage (way more simply put).

I feel now as though I am on that spear’s tip. I have an idea, and a very potential opportunity to raise the bar. To have my first culinary business. But that’s not all; I have found a cash-cow opportunity right near where I live. The kind of opportunity that makes you say . . . , “No Shit!”

I had stumbled on this thought because of something I was told one day. Then I happened to think about what I had learned in school by a very successful entrepreneur/professor. Jane Said (Jane’s Addiction) . . . (yes she and I were about the same age), “Find something that is truly missing . . . there, you will find success”. I’m sure she said it nothing like that, but that’s what I’m going with. And yes, I plan to engage her very educated mind about this idea. She was one of the truly great professors I had learned under while at AI. Now you know why they’re hired as “Professors”.

When I brought this idea to my wife and kids they too said, . . . “No Shit!” And thought the idea to be an awesome opportunity to enter the restaurant business. But this idea isn’t something that needs to be much even though about. WHAT???. I mean this idea is a no-brainer. Once you realize my idea . . . You’ll be like . . . . . . NO SHIT!

So now we have to start creating the menu. That is the first step in creating any food business. What are you going to serve?

Unfortunately, I cant tell you what I’m going to serve, because that is what is missing.

Because you’ll be like. “Duh, . . . . No Shit!”

Dicks

Traveling our first afternoon throughout the bay area, we had treated ourselves to lunch at The Dead Fish directly across the bay from California Maritime Academy (the wife and my personal favorite for school selection). Again, The Dead Fish’s cuisine and service was very good. Watch out for the burger . . . it’s quite a large bite. That evening, after retrieving our trailer from Travln Trailer, we stayed at the Elks in Walnut Creek. Yeah, we just came from that direction. Walnut Creek Elks was a little slim on the camping sites but they did have 2 spots precariously placed with full hook-ups, and another along side of the building with just a 30 amp electrical outlet. Good enough for us since we are already self-contained. The next morning upon our departure from Walnut Creek we happened upon Sunrise Bistro and Catering. Sunrise had a very complete menu and served very substantial plates. All of the food was very good but the Florentine Benedict had avocado on it. I think the avocados must have been cheap up in that region because there was a lot seemingly everywhere we visited. Dunno on that one. Like the benedict seemed to have almost an entire avocado ( it was just half, but plated eloquently). I had the Joe’s Scramble and my son had the French Toast. The food at Sunrise was highlighted by the best breakfast potatoes we have ever had. They were a red-skinned potato but perfectly balanced with a very crunchy burnt crust. Awesome! Sunrise also had a very good cup of coffee . . . even highlighted by the biscotti along the cup’s edge. That’s the kind of touch that people remember; but you better not stop . . . they’ll expect that patron touch-point every time. After our trip to Cal Maritime we headed again south on the 101 to see how far we can get toward San Luis Obispo before we frankly run out of steam. That was about a 4-5 hour trek, but we again ended up at an Elks. My cousin had gladly arranged an RV spot for us that night so we had a focus in mind. Luckily the Elks bar was still open and so was my spot. We were told they had filled up that day with the visitor’s anticipation of attending the Mid-State Fair which is some distance up the road. We had passed it about an hour before getting to San Luis. A bit far if you ask me. Once in San Luis Obispo, we luckily got an end spot for the trailer and plenty of room to hide from the other campers. This Elks had about 20 spots with water and 30 amps to run the A/C, but a very convenient dump station as you exit. You ask, “why all the talk and review about the Elks?” I recently got hooked up with the Elks nearby me by another chef; Niko’s Express Italian in Vista, CA. I had previously written about them upon their initial opening a while back. Anyway, we decided that this trip was open for anything including staying at Elks facilities if that’s what the day holds. I figure if we use the Elks benefits, then perhaps we’ll continue . . .

We stayed at the Elks for two nights. While in San Luis Obispo, we toured the Madonna Inn; an interesting place to swing through, drive around and check out. Quite a history there. You can’t view the rooms as they are always packed. I did speak with the GM (I’ll call him) or Director of dining or something like that. I noticed his menu and spoke with him about the native Oak grill. A bit pricey on the value point, but I bet that’s going to be one of those places I’ll just have to check out on my next stay in San Luis. Smelled like heaven or home . . . one of the two.

We also tried a Mexican/Irish place I guess. It was called Spencer Makenzsie’s. Not sure but that just seemed kinda wrong. A Friday lunch and the place was minimally busy. It looked fresh from the outside, it had a couple of tap handles, some pretty flavorful fish taco’s (these were really just kinda ordinary though) and some French fries. I can’t knock the joint, it seemed to attempt to hit the “healthier eating” target market. Perhaps they’ll do fine.

Another Friday night was upon us and we hadn’t had pizza the entire trip, so pizza it was. Who are we top change up our lives . . . and we’re somewhere else that probably boast a pretty good pie. So we ask . . . maybe the wrong thing to do. While sitting at this bar inside of Tahoe Joes, a steakhouse, while my son got a haircut. Asking the servers was the wrong thing because they all said in unison “Fatty’s”. I said a really good pizza, unique . . . it stumped the kid-bartenders.

While finishing our drink, the wife and I noticed this small little port behind the bar/kitchen area that seemed to be a pass-through. It’s a small hole back there along the wall . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . we joked about watching it . . . and waiting for it, but nothing ever passed through that stupid hole. While watching that stupid hole we finally reverted to reviews on the internet and found nothing other than stupid Yelp. So we had to start with something ’cause there were no other independent reviews such as what I do. Continuing on Yelp we found Petra, a Mediterranean Pizza and Grill to have the highest marks and the most reviews. It was 4-stars on Yelp so I said, “it’s a least slightly above average” . . . let’s give ‘er a try.

We ordered by phone on the way and they said it would be twenty minutes. We got there in 5 minutes and so I ordered a beer from their well handled bar area and paid for my pizza, The cashier/server/greeter/whatever said, “Ok, your pizza will be done in two minutes. I looked in the back and the belt drive pizza oven was cranking them out. I already don’t like belt drive pizza; and other than some original toppings, their pizza was really just slightly above average. Belt drive none the less.

While swiftly drinking my beer out front, I did stumble upon some folks that found Petra the exact same way we found it . . .through Yelp. Sheesh! Passed them a couple business cards and I was back off to claim my pizza.

We took that pizza back to the Elks hurriedly to meet up with my already had-a-couple cousin at the Elks bar. My cousin’s beau happens to also be the day chef at the Elks in San Luis. He too is an artist . . . he kept calling me “Chef” . . . what an honor . . .

Dicks