Food truck mecca

San Francisco is a city built around innovation and busy people. Put those two things together and you get food trucks. Give those food trucks a few years to perfect their offerings, band together and create an exquisite buffet of sorts that tours the city bringing amazing tastiness to all corners of the city and you get Off The Grid.

The idea of Off The Grid is to get a lot of these food trucks in one place and give people options. Think gourmet food court with no mall surrounding it, replaced by a busy pedestrian street or a bustling start up neighborhood.

As they tell it:

"Off The Grid began in June of 2010 with the simple idea that grouping Street Food vendors together, similar to an "Asian night market," would create an experience that would allow neighbors to connect with friends, and families to connect with each other."

At Off The Grid, there can be anywhere from 6-12 food trucks that gather in a specific destination, and the options feel endless. Last time I went there were I could taste from Onigilly, a Japanese gourmet rice ball truck, Curry Up Now, an Indian street food truck, Belly Burgers, which serves only pork belly burgers, and polish it all off at the Creme Brûlée Cart, which makes exactly what you would expect but even better. There are over fifty trucks that may show up on a given day, and you can see the full list here.

The trucks head to a different spot every day, but the same spot each week, meaning Off The Grid is at the same spot each Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. You can find their full schedule here.

The thing I love most about the Off The Grid experience, though, is the adventure feeling. They have figured out a way to bring the comforting feeling of consistency that you get by going to a place you recognize and feel safe at with the chance to always try something new. Impressive evolution from the hot dog cart on the New York City sidewalk.

Image courtesy of Off The Grid