Food Truck Friday: Grindhaus Wins Me with Their Sausage and a Side Dish

In this episode of Food Truck Friday, I check in with Grindhaus, the mobile sausage company that is “chopping, grinding, and stuffing” its way through the streets of Los Angeles.  I caught up with Grindhaus at the Century Food Truck lot for a Tuesday lunch.

Website: grindhausla.com/

Twitter: @GrindhausLA

The Truck:

The Food:

Initially, I fell for Grindhaus just from reading their menu.  Each item gets its name from a  famous movie that relates to the ingredients.  An Italian sausage pays homage to “The Godfather” while the “Inglorious Bratwurst” features hand made sauerkraut.  While I expected a bun, these sausages are served as-is and paired with a side to complete the dish.

I decided to go with the “Duck!!!” ($9);  not sure what movie aligns with this one but I was curious to sample duck sausage mixed with semi-sweet chocolate and cherries.  The dish was served with Swiss chard and smoked cauliflower cooked with bacon lardons .  I added a side of fries ($3) to make it what they call a “double feature”.

This sausage was fantastic.  The meat was extremely fresh and tender and I loved the way they cooked it on a grill, getting those perfect grill marks on it.  Mixed in at irregular intervals with the duck, the chocolate and cherries were pleasant surprises of sweetness and texture.

The real star of this dish, though, was the supporting actor: the Swiss chard and cauliflower were amazing.  The cauliflower had attained a state of smoky, nuttiness and the chard was blanched in such a way that it was crisp where it needed to be, soft in other places, but never limp.  How did they do that!?  The bacon provided a finishing note of saltiness that rounded out the side dish’s Oscar winning role.

I will definitely be checking out Grindhaus again, making my way through the other dishes on their menu as I go.  If anything, I’ll be going back for more of that Swiss chard and cauliflower!