Bishop Ranch Food Trucks

Mmm, food trucks. I’ve always loved them but I’m pretty late to the party when it comes to the not-so-recent phenomenon of awesome gourmet food on trucks. They just started getting big right around the time The Little Empress was born. Alas, a lack of funds plus a very cranky little one doesn’t exactly make a great food truck stalking combination.

My friend Shiny decided to take a Bueller Day recently and invited me along to go visit one of her favorite food trucks Chairman Bao during one of its weekday stops at the Bishop Ranch business park in San Ramon. When we arrived we were happy to say that there was not just Chairman Bao but Arki Truck, Cabana Dave’s and That’s Sweet! Dessert Truck there as well. Lunch AND dessert! Awesome!

Shiny and I pulled up to Bishop Ranch a few minutes before the trucks officially opened for business. Chairman Bao already had a queue going; Shiny told me that when she had visited the truck at Off the Grid and a food event in Sacramento, lines for Chairman Bao could get epic. She had even witnessed one lady who had gone so far as to take a folding chair to wait in line! Talk about hardcore!! Luckily, we only had to wait about 5 ~ 10 minutes in total. I couldn’t help but notice that the line was slow going mostly because of some glitches with the iPhone based card reader. (Wouldn’t investing in a more stable payment system be prudent? Hrm.)

I am of the belief that God put pig on earth for man to eat and be happy. My love of pork and all the goodness that pork can be is the single thing standing between me and a life of vegetarianism. Seriously. I could pretty much happily give up just about any other animal-based protein out there but man oh man, let me keep my oinky. And of all of the parts of the pig, the greatest parts are a toss up between the crispy skin of lechon or the striped lean and fatty goodness of pork belly.

So naturally when I saw “braised pork belly” on the Chairman Bao menu, I couldn’t help but order it, right? I was tempted to order two but I figured that would be too much of a good thing so I decided to go with what my friend Shiny recommended — the garlic tofu with miso greens.

Imagine my surprise when I wanted seconds… of the tofu, not the pork belly! Yeah, it amazed me too. It was a fantastic combination of flavors, textures and temperatures: soft, sweet and chewy bun, hot, savory, crisp AND creamy tofu, the cool crisp slightly bitter but moreish miso dressing on the bok choy.

Truth be told, two of those Chairman Bao buns should have been more than enough. They were tasty and I wanted dessert, too. But I couldn’t help but notice that Arki Truck sold a fried chicken sandwich that somehow seemed to be calling my name. I decided to get it anyway, just for a taste, and I would wrap up the rest to take home to The Hubs ™.

Can I just talk about the donuts for a second? These were two beautiful pillows of butter and sugar soaked ethereal GOODNESS. OH MY GOD. These pictures don’t do them nearly enough justice.

Food truck survival guide:

Get there as early as possible!!

Bring a bag.

Bring something to drink. Most of the food trucks will sell something to drink but unless the truck is selling something they made themselves, you’ll find most of it to be way overpriced. (Um, $1.50 for a can of Coke? Seriously? No. )