By Noah Galuten, Wed., Jul. 7 2010 @ 5:22PM

Categories: Filipino cuisine, Food Trucks

July 7, 2010, Los Angeles, CA – You’ve never been served Filipino food like this before. L.A’s newest addition to the food truck craze dishes out ‘Filipino Fusion Food.’
The White Rabbit Truck is the first business to tap into this culinary arena. Combining foods isn’t new. It’s been around since the 1970s, but The White Rabbit Truck’s menu will be more Filipino than its Mexican and American counterparts.

The White Rabbit starts hopping out Friday July 9th at Grand Star Jazz Club, 943 Sun Mun Way, Los Angeles, CA 90012, and Saturday, July 10th at Burgundy House, 6202 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028. Owners Melvin Chua, James Du, and Michael Dimaguila hope to introduce this unique food fare to Angelenos . “We spent many nights with James cooking, working from traditional dishes, while Melvin and I tasted and suggested and tasted some more,” says Dimaguila. “After many months, as well as pounds, we found the dishes that we wanted to share with the public.” The trio are long time friends who graduated from Alemany High School in the same year. This is their first time joining forces as business partners. Marketing Director Melvin Chua says, “We hope we found a way to get people to get a taste of our culture. We believe they will be very surprised and well-fed.”

By Joshua Lurie 07/08/10 at 09:45AM

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/feast/White-Rabbit-Filipino-Fusion-Truck-Launches-97980189.html

White Rabbit Filipino Fusion Truck Launches

“White Rabbit” isn’t just a Jefferson Airplane song anymore. On Monday, chef-founder James Du and his partners rolled out White Rabbit, a Filipino fusion food truck that follows closely on the heels of The Manila Machine, which offers a more traditional take on Filipino cooking. Du is a Le Cordon Bleu graduate who worked at Gordon Ramsay and Chateau Marmont before teaming with Melvin Chua and Michael Dimaguila, a pair of real estate and finance professionals and long-time friends from Alemany High School in Mission Hills.

“We wanted to fuse American, Mexican cuisines with a French cooking style to create Filipino Fusion food that mainstream Angelenos would like,” said Dimaguila. “We come from humble beginnings with not a lot of capital so we thought a food truck would be great due to its low overhead and mobility to move locations. Also James having years of experience working on a motion picture catering truck.”

Dimaguila insists they have “plenty of signature dishes we’ve been working on in our kitchen laboratory for almost 1 year now.” Since the business is so new, they’re not quite sure what the breakout dishes will be, but he touted White Chocolate Champorado, Ube Fries, Breakfast Burritos, Banana Creme Cheese Eggrolls, and Pork Sisig. [Feast LA]

ARTICLE # 4

Written by: nuts4pilinuts

Link to Article:

http://foodtruckadventure.wordpress.com/2010/07/03/ive-been-out-of-the-loop/#comments

I’m usually searching twitter and the internet for something new on the local Filipino food scene. I have to admit though that since school ended for the kids I’ve taken myself out of the loop. Thanks to @FilipinoFood ‘s tweet early this Saturday morning, I now know about White Rabbit Truck.

Meet their logo and their schedule for this week… and I am loving the Philippine Star on the chef’s hat.

(image source)

Let me start by saying… HOW DID I MISS THIS?

Oh well, no use crying over spilled milk. Must visit them tomorrow. Looking at their schedule and the places they’ve scheduled for this week, I’m happy to see a lot of venues here in the Valley. Love love love it.

I’m excited!

Looking at their photo gallery I found a picture of their menu (since menu page on their webpage is blank)…

(image source: http://www.archiprudencio.com/portfolio//content/pictures2/White Rabbit Events/Soft Opening Launch July 2 2010)

Their menu reminds me of Chipotle’s menu. I like I love their choice of meats. And UBE FRIES???? Got to try that one. You know me and ube. Have you heard of my recent obsession over Manila Machine‘s ube cupcakes. Yup! And WHITE CHOCOLATE CHAMPORADO??? … that sounded sooo sinful.

Okay so let me tell you my “gotta try” menu items based on the above menu…

Beef Steak lettuce cups and rice bowl

Pork Tocino Fili-cheesesteak

WHITE CHOCOLATE CHAMPORADO

Creme Brule Toast

Banana Creme Cheese Lumpia

So, tomorrow I’ll be coming by. See ya…

Written by: nuts4pilinuts

Link to Article:

http://foodtruckadventure.wordpress.com/2010/07/03/ive-been-out-of-the-loop/#comments

ARTICLE # 5

Written By: The Gourmet Princess

TRADITION vs. FUSION: Another Filipino Gourmet Food Truck Debuts

I thought I was seeing things a couple of weeks ago. I was on my way home after having dinner with a friend at a restaurant in Studio City when I passed what I thought was a food truck near Guitar Center in Sherman Oaks. In a split second, all I saw was was the word Filipino; I didn’t register anything else. I slowed down and checked back in my rear view mirror and all I saw was a white truck. I couldn’t make out anything else as I headed westbound on Ventura Boulevard. I then began to question whether or not I actually saw the word Filipino. I shrugged it off and promptly forgot about it.

Fast forward to tonight. I was checking my Twitter account and a specific tweet caught my eye, “FoodTruckLA RT @whiterabbitruk: En route to Menchies Granada Hills. Serving till 9. Orders will stop by 9, so get there early.” This was a retweet by FoodTruckLA on Twitter and was curious what White Rabbit was all about. I clicked on the Twitter name and lo and behold! It was another gourmet food truck…a FILIPINO-FUSION gourmet food truck, and unlike Manila Machine whose focus is more on the traditional Filipino fare, White Rabbit takes popular Filipino dishes and fuses it with an American and Mexican Twist. Then it hit me–this was the truck I saw two weeks ago!

It was already 6:45 p.m. and I was still at work. I quickly called a couple of friends to see if I could at least get one of them to go with me. Both didn’t answer their phones. So I called my husband (he had to work late) and my youngest son (he had plans to go out with friends) and my older son (he wanted to be home and talk to his girlfriend on Skype)–I couldn’t find one person who could go with me! I decided then and there that I would make the trip by myself and brave what I thought would be a very long line on my own.

I found Menchies (a frozen yogurt shop) and White Rabbit was parked in front of it not far from the corner of Chatsworth and Zelzah in Granada Hills. The line unfortunately was not long, only 6 people in line in front of me (however, about the time I left which was 45 minutes later, there were already 25-30 people in line).

White Rabbit is yet another player in the gourmet food truck game. Manila Machine, which debuted in early June was enjoying a huge following, and until recently, was the only Filipino game in town. In fact, earlier today, Manila Machine was on Fox’s Good Day L.A., one of four trucks featured that will be participating in this year’s LA Street Fair at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena next Saturday, July 24.

What sets White Rabbit apart from Manila Machine is their menu. Oh sure, their food offerings are the same–both include Chicken Adobo, Beefsteak, Sisig but that’s where the similarities ends. Manila Machine sticks to tradition while White Rabbit steps outside of its hole and has create an interesting and eclectic mix of savory dishes utilizing traditional, yet popular meats familiar to Filipino cuisine: Beefsteak, Pork Sisig, Chicken Adobo and Pork Tocino.

The Beefsteak is citrus marinated and slow cooked (I’m guessing they use either calmansi, a Filipino lime or a regular lemon as a base for their marinade). I liked how the citrus marinade brightened up the flavor of the beef. The Chicken Adobo is specially season and slowly braised in soy sauce and vinegar; the result is a very tender, very flavorful and savory chicken. The Pork Tocino is sweetened cured pork both braised and grilled. It was prepared differently from how my mother prepares Tocino. It was a bit on the spicy side but it was okay; I wasn’t completely wowed by it. The Pork Sisig, White Rabbit’s signature dish, is slightly sauteed and grilled pork, tossed in a medley of garlic, onions and jalapenos. Doesn’t that sound good? We ordered at least one item of the four meats offered with the exception of the Pork Sisig. They sold out which was disappointing but gives me an excuse to come back and try it and other dishes on their menu.

The way it works is that you pick a meat and decide how you want it prepared: Tacos–you get three small soft corn tortilla tacos, the tortillas were about the size of a music CD; Burrito, a generously stuffed burrito about 4-5 inches in length; in a Rice Bowl which literally means you get your choice of meat and two rounded scoops of rice; lettuce wrapped–you get three and the “Fili”Cheesecake, two slider style sandwich made with pan de sal rolls. I ordered the Chicken Adobo Burrito, chicken adobo wrapped in a flour tortilla with soft white rice, a fried egg and swiss cheese; The Pork Tocino Bowl; Beefsteak Tacos and Pork Tocino Tacos, both topped with a slightly spicy slaw; and the Fili-cheesesteak sliders, one with the Beefsteak and the other with the Pork Tocino.

They also offer sides and other extras: Fried Eggs, Lumpia, or Fries (Regular, Sweet or Ube–a purple yam); Mac ‘n Cheese and Spaghetti, and a dessert menu which includes the White Chocolate Champorado, a sweet porridge-like dessert (they sold out of this too) and Banana Cream Cheese Lumpia (not available tonight). The only dessert they did have available is the Creme Brulee Toast and I’m still trying to figure out what is “Filipino” about that dish (I’m guessing it’s french toast style toast made with the pan de sal roll and dipped in an egg-brulee type mix and then grilled, and served with some type of dipping syrup.) I’ll be sure to ask and order it next time around.

Overall, it was a good food experience. Comparing it to Manila Machine in some respects is like comparing apples and oranges. Both are unique in its style, flavor and concept and it wouldn’t be fair to judge them as equals. I do have favorites from each menu though and I hope that both White Rabbit and Manila Machine bring in a whole new legion of fans that will help bring Filipino food into the mainstream.