DO believe the hype.
It seemed only fit to begin my adventure with the most prolific of the food trucks. So while home this past Saturday afternoon, when I got my first Kogi Tweet informing me that they were not at all far from me, I immediately hopped in the car and headed to Wilshire and Crescent Heights to find the truck in a parking lot, with almost no line. Hooray!
I ordered their signature dish, the Korean Short Rib Taco ($2) and the Kogi Sliders ($5). I know it was my first food truck and, obviously, my first Korean-Mexican "Kogi experience" - so I had not much to draw from - but this was unlike anything I had tasted before. And it was divine.
The short rib, stuffed into corn tortillas (or the slider buns), is served with shredded cabbage, and a relish of scallions, cilantro, soy, sesame seeds and citrus is an unexpected meld of rich, tangy, sweet and savory. The meat is tender and succulent. It's Korean. It's Mexican. It's Californian. It's perfect.
I can't wait to return to, eventually, try everything on the menu.