A child orders from Dominic's Food Truck.
Off the Grid is a weekly event in Foster City’s recreation center, set against the backdrop of Leo J. Ryan park and the Foster City lagoon. Families and groups of friends order meals from the numerous food trucks and enjoy the music and ambience. The food choices range from American to Korean cuisine, with some including vegetarian options and even ice cream for dessert, providing something for everyone. There were eight food trucks in the recreation center parking lot. People walked around between them, carrying food or waiting in line. Unfortunately, there was no live music when I went to the event and the atmosphere was relatively muted. However, this is understandable as it was a Wednesday evening during the school year. Had it been summertime, there likely would have been a livelier atmosphere with many more people.
The food made up for the lackluster energy. The range of American food alone included casual burgers to Southern soul food and prime rib, and we wanted to try two types of American food for this reason. I tried the signature dish from Curveball Sliders, aptly named the Curveball. It included two small burgers each with a beef patty and a piece of India pale ale braised pork belly along with cheese, grilled onions, barbecue sauce and Chipotle mayo.
These ingredients created a delicious explosion of flavor. I also ordered garlic fries from the same food truck, which were
amazing. The fries were very crispy and were topped with an ample sprinkling of parmesan cheese, parsley and garlic. The serving size of the fries was also quite generous. Dominic’s Food Truck was the other truck I ordered American cuisine from. It offered food like prime rib and tortellini. I decided to get a dish of barbecue ribs and a side of bacon mac and cheese. The food from Dominic’s was also delectable. The mac and cheese was very flavorful. The ribs were very easy to cut, eat and chew. They were sweet, which contrasted beautifully with the savory flavor from the mac and cheese. The serving size for this dish was decent and every one in my family was able to enjoy a portion of it.
“The food choices range from American to Korean cuisine … providing something for everyone”
Since Off the Grid offers such a wide variety of food, I also decided to get food from Korean Bob Cha. They offered sweet and spicy pork, barbecue chicken and deep fried tofu with sweet and spicy sauce. With bulgogi, there were choices between beef or sweet and spicy Korean fried chicken with soy garlic sauce for an extra dollar. I got the Meat Lover’s Bowl, which allows customers to pick two proteins, so that they could try more of what they had to offer. It included a scoop of white rice and a small salad, as well as honey garlic sauce and smokey orange sauce drizzled on the dish with some sesame seeds and green onions for garnish. The beef bulgogi and fried chicken were a bit spicy, but the spice only added to the delicious food and was not overwhelming. The spice contrasted well with the sweet ribs and savory burgers and mac and cheese, so the meal as a whole was quite balanced.
Finally, for dessert, the event included a small ice cream food truck called Jolly’s Old Fashioned Teas Cream. It had quite an expansive and creative menu, including a huge sundae with copious amounts of toppings, and the “Flight” and “Full Flight” assortments of four or eight different ice cream scoops. Their flavors were also diverse and original, including rose pistachio, lavender tea and earl gray, among many others. I ordered the Double Bubble: a cup with black sugar syrup and layers of honey boba in between and on top of the two scoops of different flavors of ice cream. The ice cream tasted flavorful and the texture was quite thick. As these food trucks are small local businesses, the food is relatively expensive in comparison to fast food and is still a little more expensive than you would expect from restaurants that serve similar quality food. Every truck offered a 30% discount when using Apple Pay, which saved me a decent amount of money for the evening.
Foster City’s Off the Grid is a fun experience with delicious, diverse food and nice scenery. For anyone with spare time on a Wednesday night, consider getting some food and supporting these small businesses.
