Every Wednesday, Off the Grid crosses the bridge and sets up camp at Shattuck and Rose in Berkeley. I finally stopped by last week (cracked tooth and all) to check it out. I arrived to a pretty sizable crowd, consisting of a fair number of children milling about, high off the sugar from the Cupkates truck. Off the top of my head, I know 3-Sum Eats, Liba Falafel (amazing, but I'd already tried when writing an article on falafel), Ebbett's Good to Go, Cupkates, and KoJa Kitchen were there, along with a few others I can't remember....bringing the total somewhere near but not quite reaching ten.
Unfortunately, Fiveten Burger was nowhere to be found, but since I'm a senseless sheep of a person I just got in the longest line, figuring it must be pretty good. I was actually going to opt for a tofu taco from a different truck but it was $8 and I don't play that way...especially when I don't have cash and D is footing the bill (I paid him back!). I ended up waiting a good ten minutes for KoJa Kitchen, which had a nice screen set up with slideshow of their food so you could get a good sense for what you were ordering. KoJa's cuisine is Korean/Japanese fusion and damn was I a sucker for that screen.
I went with the kamikaze fries and the mochimisu, since I figured I'd have a tough time gnawing through a rice cake with my busted toof. The fries were an amazing combination of crinkle cut potatoes, Korean beef, kimchi, what I'm going to assume is some sort of hot sauce, and other goodness. I downed that shit in like...two minutes. That's totally fast for me.
But honestly, the real revelation here is the mochimisu. You love tiramisu? You love mochi? You and I should hang out because I am 100% on board with those things, and the mochimisu combined them. It tasted mainly like tiramisu, with a little hidden layer of mochi waiting to be discovered and promptly devoured. I started eating that ish while I was waiting for my fries because I was damn hungry and let me tell you...good call. Also, they apparently sold out after I lost a few years of my life waiting in line, so you gotta get on those suckers quick.
If my crappy description of the food and atmosphere at Off the Grid has you jonesing to get down there and try out some of the food trucks, stop by Shattuck and Rose every Wednesday, 5–9pm. Just remember to get there early if you want in on that mochimisu.
yum, someone was telling me about the Koja truck... the siren beckons, I cannot resist!
ReplyDeleteKoja was amazing....I went back last week for Brass Knuckles and Taco Guys and was not disappointed (well at Brass Knuckles, get their take on a Cuban sandwich and pass on the fried prawns). Almost snagged another mochimisu when I passed by KoJa. The lines were way better closer to the start!
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