food trucks have jumped the shark

That was quick. I was, and still kinda am, a proponent of the food truck. But the mainstreaming of them has gotten out of hand. Now, all you have to do is paint a truck to look all cool, serve just about anything, and people are going to come.

A few weeks ago, I headed to a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in San Elijo Hills because there were going to be a bunch of food trucks from San Diego an LA there. I figured I'd go up and sample as many as I could, see which ones were the real deal, and which ones were just cashing in on a fad. Mistake. I was completely not expecting the mob scene I encountered. Every single truck had a line of at least 30 people.

Insanity. Good for the food trucks, I guess. But I wasn't about to stand around for a half-hour in the cold for some food that might be good or might be the product of hype. So I hightailed it out of there, still hungry, and went with something that always hits the spot: a California Burrito from El Cotixan. French fries and carne asada in a burrito: a concept predating food truck fusion by two decades.