Nom Nom, Bacon Bacon Trucks Stammer Their Way to OTG Debuts

Two much-anticipated food trucks with doppelganger names made their Off the Grid debuts at the Upper Haight event tonight.  The Nom Nom Truck (which should perhaps be called Nom Nom North)  was making its San Francisco debut as well, and the Bacon Bacon Truck, whose San Francisco Debut occurred a week ago, was finally ready for prime time.

The Nom Nom Truck is a spin-off of a Los Angeles truck of the same name and features banh mi. It comes to us with a certain amount of TV celebrity, some polished marketing, an apparent fan club and T-shirts. The Bacon Bacon Truck, which I encountered previously, features bacon and, well, more bacon. It taps an amorphous but huge bacon fan club and, yes, has T-shirts.

Foot long banh mi

Nom Nom's menu features banh mi in four flavors: Grilled Pork, Lemon Grass Chicken, Vegetarian Tofu and a "Deli Special" (which I forgot to inquire into).  If you don't know what a banh mi is, I'm surprised you are reading this blog, but the Nom Nom folks have thoughtfully posted a tutorial on their truck. The sandwiches are a foot long and $7.00.  If you are looking for smaller bites, they serve taco versions of all the fillings except the Deli Special, for $2.50.

Line at Bacon Bacon Truck at 5:15

I decided to go for a banh mi, and they had me at pork. My sandwich had a generous quantity of the pork, nicely grilled, and the vegetable matter was fresh and thinly sliced.  If I could find fault with anything, it would be that the saucing and spicing could have been more sprightly.  The star of the banh mi was, if anything, the long, thin baguette, so nicely crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  Nom Nom's banh mi probably won't make you forget the sharper flavors (or the lower pricing) of Saigon Sandwich, but hey, you are at Off the Grid.

Nom Nom.  Bacon Bacon. Bottom line: which to choose from?  It's really apples and oranges, but if I absolutely had to choose, it would be Nom Nom for the sandwich, but Bacon Bacon for the T-shirt.

Mentioned: @NomNomTruckSF, @baconbaconsf

SF's First Bacon Truck Launches; Blindsided by Pent-up Bacon Lust

 

Considering the bacon-everything madness of the past couple of years, it's hard to believe that until today we were more than a year into Food Trucks 2.0 without a single bacon-interest truck on the street in San Francisco. That all ended with the official Launch of the Bacon Bacon Truck (@baconbaconsf) at 63 Bluxome St., where it'll be found Tuesday through Thursday, at least this week. 

Sign at Union Square Greenmarket

I decided to check out this historic day in the annals of bacon on my way to Costco.  The truck's location in an arty alley (a winery, a silk screen print shop and a couple of galleries are among its neighbors) a short block from Caltrain and the #30/45 bus stop made this easy.  I intended to just be a Looky Lou and take a couple of pictures and be on my way.  I do like bacon, though, common sense and cardiology aside, and fell prey to the phenomenon known as Bacon Hypnosis which is triggered by the fumes of cooking bacon.  I was hooked. Perusing the menu, which consisted of various appropriate uses of bacon, I selected a sandwich with the the very San Francisco name of the LGBT* as likely to cause the least damage to my arteries.  

"It'll be about 20 minutes," said the Bacon Pusher in an apologetic tone.

"No problem," I said "I'm retired.  I've got all day."

The words were almost prophetic. My 20 minutes turned into 30, then 40 and eventually to more than an hour's wait for my sandwich.  I wasn't alone;  there were a couple of dozen other people in the same waiting mode. The Bacon Bacon staff were repeatedly apologetic, and continually supplied samples of fries, bacon jam and root beer. There was only so much room for a griddle on the truck, they explained, and only so many strips of bacon could fit on it at once. The demand had simply outraced the supply.  Maybe it was the pleasant, sunny 70° weather or the hypnotic effect of the bacon fumes, but the waiting crowd was remarkably patient and cheerful, and each new order off the grill was given a celebratory greeting. 

For  the record, my sandwich was beautifully prepared, and the slices of thick bacon perfectly cooked, crisp but not burnt, and very, well, bacony.  It was a good sandwich, and worth $7.00, considering the market.  But was it worth more than an hour's wait?

From the Bacon Bacon Truck operators' point of view, I'm sure the problem of dealing with too much demand, rather than too little, is one they'll gladly take back to the drawing board.

*Described on the menu as "Little gem lettuces, goat cheese, bacon, tomato"

Mentioned: @baconbaconsf