Off the Grid: Civic Center Edition

Korean Taco

Braised Pork Bao (Steamed)

Recently, a Chronicle reader emailed Michael Bauer with a list on "How to tell if a restaurant is pretentious." Although the list has some good points, there are few that really make the reader himself sound pretentious. Of course, one of his points involves food trucks:

3) If the restaurant has four wheels and does not serve hot dogs or tacos. Or if the restaurant is a “pop-up”, period.

Yes, it does get annoying having to chase down food trucks or stands, and sometimes I, too, am disappointed. But hating on all trucks is a tad drastic. Anyways, that was my small spiel. Off the Grid basically involves food truck pop-ups in various areas of San Francisco. On Fridays they're usually at Civic Center (until Fort Mason opens again). You can check their twitter for links to which trucks are actually there on a specific date (they change week-to-week sometimes). Last Friday, I was able to try Seoul on Wheels and give Chairman Bao another go. My actual objective was to hit Japacurry, but they were sold out! The taco at Seoul on Wheels was fantastic. The Bulgogi was very flavourful and went surprisingly well with the tortilla. This time I tried the Braised Pork with Savoy Cabbage and Preserved Mustard Seeds at Chairman. This bao is a definitely more fusion-y. The creamy pulled pork-ness was interesting, but sent less Chinese vibes than the other baos.

http://offthegridsf.com/

Off the Grid: Civic Center
(Literally right in front of Civic Center)
11:30-2:30 on Fridays for now, but will probably move back to Thursdays