Double-stacked burgers with french fry crowns, Nashville-style fried chicken sandwiches, the crispiest Yucatecan fish tacos, chile relleno burritos—these are a few of our favorite things.
A bonanza of new food trucks have rolled into the Bay Area food scene, as pandemic-induced shutdowns paved the way for creative new concepts. Driven by talented industry folks that were either out of work or finally took the plunge to pursue their mobile food dreams, these new food concepts are unique, cutting-edge, and downright delicious.
As part of Off the Grid’s Creator (i.e. food truck) tryouts—dubbed Open Bite Nite—we got to taste a handful of the newest food trucks trying to make their way into the Bay Area’s hearts and bellies. Here’s who made the first cut.
4 New Food Trucks You’ll Want to Try for Yourself
1) Los Rockeros
Barely three months on the scene, Los Rockeros is a Mexico City-style street food truck that’s as elevated, elegant and diverse as anything you’ll find in the world-famous food city.
Run by a family of four, the chef hails from Mexico city, while the recipes are crafted by his wife and El Salvadorian mother-in-law. Dishes include a chilaquiles torta, a blue corn tortilla huaraches topped with cactus and beans and a chile relleno super burrito.
Off the Grid Senior Catering Event Producer Zack Metteauer couldn’t get enough. “The Chile Relleno found inside of their signature super burrito was a slightly smoky, mouth watering surprise!” he said.
2) Al Carajo
When Javier Leon lost his job as a bartender during the pandemic, he took the opportunity to finally start his own food business with dishes his friends and family always raved about. He managed to get a trailer from his buddy, which he decked out in a bright red and decorated with photos of his killer tacos and ceviches.
A Mexican native, all of Javier’s dishes are inspired by ingredients from the Yucatan. His ceviches are bright and fresh, with sweet touches of mango, while his tacos are loaded with layers for flavor.
“That fried fish taco rocked my world,” said Off the Grid Head of Marketing Renee Frojo, who described it as the most light and crispy batter she has ever encountered.
3) Chick N’ Bros
We all turned heads when Chicken Bros—whose humongous truck sports the logo “Big Chicken Energy”—rolled up with a presence that’s impossible to ignore. Its food had a lot of personality to go with it.
Every sandwich is hand-breaded and made to order, with levels of spice that range from normal people spice to “we’ll give you $1K if you can actually down this spice.”
Off the Grid President Lex Scala said Chick N’ Bro’s Nashville Chicken Sandwich was, “Juicy and spicy, and reminded us of the renowned Hattie B’s in Nashville.” Apparently, Yelpers voted it the “Top 5 Chicken Sandwich” in all of California.
4) Rock Club Burgers
Rock Club Burgers is the brainchild of a chef who truly knows how to cook and also happens to love Rock n’ Roll. The result is a creative menu with stacked burgers named after the most famous rock bands of the century.
Think: The Metallica, which has bacon jam, BBQ sauce and Pepper Jack cheese. There’s also The Korn burger with Mexican-street-style corn and BBQ pulled pork.
The Queen—a double beef patty topped with bacon and a crown of crispy fries—was a collective favorite. It’s delicious AND photogenic.
As Off the Grid Insider Krishna put it, “It’s really difficult to come up with a unique burger concept, and they pulled it off in incredible style.”
Here’s where you can find these new mobile food gems.
As brand new entrants on the scene, all these trucks are still finding their way around the Bay Area.
Your best bet to catch them in action is to follow them on Instagram, where they post regularly about their latest locations. You can also check our food truck market and events page to see what markets they’ll be popping up at next. You’ll be able to find them in regular rotation soon!
And if you’re interested in having any of these newbies cater your next company party, we can help with that, too.