gutfud – the food, es ist gut

Santa Barbara is hardly the cutting edge of food trends, we gladly take the spillover several years down the line. Food trucks are one of those trends I’ve been waiting for. In my impatience, I’ve gone to LA to explore them (and failed, thank you over-capacity food truck fest), and to Portland (big big big big win!!). They’re such a great way for small businesses to get running and provide a wonderful diversity of food treats.

But it’s now starting. And while some trucks in SB have been building up the marketing before they’ve opened, this truck sneaked right up on people, kicking off their first day unknown to anyone in my circle.
I actually got the tip from the burger truck people, who were in the Funk Zone. They were excited by the news, too, and really wanted to try the food, but had their own truck to run.

Culture Shock was set up at the Wheelhouse downtown. It was their first day, they were happy, enthusiastic, and definitely learning things for their next day of operation. Like…to bring some chalk to make the menu! Or more business cards because they’d totally run out.

They’re a husband and wife team, making street food with Sri Lankan flavors. I know nothing more of their background, because they were busy reading the menu, taking orders, cooking and delivering. But here’s what we got.

One organic chicken curry plate, with rice, dal, shredded carrot salad, and spicy sweet mango chutney, for $8 (their website says $8.50, note), and a $5 chicken bratwurst (made by the owners’ friends) with mustard and curry wrapped in paratha roti. That’s the layered flaky style roti. Very filling and the roti dog was our favorite of the two although definitely more messy.

We also had a mango lassi, which was lovely and thick and refreshing on this hot day, but there’s no photo.

It looks like their schedule isn’t solid yet, but with food trucks in SB, it’s always changing anyway. The Wheelhouse, however, appears to be the Saturday stop for Culture Shock, which is awesome since the farmers market is just around the corner and people can probably learn some new things about Sri Lankan flavors.

Twitter: @cultureshocksb

Website: www.cultureshocksb.com