Seven food trucks are lined up on a closed off street at noon on a very hot summer day.  A mix of professionals in suits and families in casual wear migrate back and forth between the various food trucks that, this day, offered breakfast favorites, Indian food, pork dishes, and gourmet sliders.

Since May 4, a total of 24 brightly colored food trucks serving gourmet food have been gracing Long Beach–giving Los Angeles, which has been known for its food truck popularity, some competition.

Several of the 24 gourmet food trucks gather every Wednesday, on Coronado Avenue behind Walgreens on East Anaheim Street, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. as part of Lunch Truck It, which aims to unite professionals, residents, and Long Beach community members for lunch.

Council member Patrick O’Donnell has partnered with the East Anaheim Business District (EASBA) and the Zaferia-South Design Destrict (ZaSo) in order to bring people to this part of Long Beach.  Before this time, food trucks were prohibited in Long Beach.  The Long Beach City Council, however, moved forward with the food trucks under the condition that they pass mandatory health inspections by the Long Beach health department.

Vicky Nguyen, a freelance musician and resident of Long Beach, loves the weekly food truck event. “It’s great,” she said, taking a bite of her Vegetarian Coconut Curry from the India Jones food truck. “It’s about time we have something like this.”

On a recent day, I decided to try what Global Soul had to offer for lunch. Most people in line were ordering the Hot Mess Sandwich, so I opted to try it.

The sandwich comes with Louisiana hotlinks, griddled onions, and red peppers on top of a buttered bun.  After reading the “Get it Loaded” option on the menu, I couldn’t resist. The Hot Mess Sandwich would take 10 to 15 minutes to prepare, but mine would now come with applewood bacon, cheese, and a fried egg with roasted garlic and chile oil.

I sat down at one of the aluminum tables at the end of the closed-off street.  The tables seemed to have come with the food trucks to give people a place to sit as they enjoyed their gourmet delights.  One woman seated at the table next to me spotted a friend and called out to her.  It was her friend’s first time at Lunch Truck It and it was nice for me to see that food was actually bringing people closer together.

There must have been about 50 people during the time I went and among those 50 were a good mix of professionals eating with their coworkers during their lunch break, couples, and families taking their kids out for some sun and culinary treats.

I couldn’t wait any longer to try the Hot Mess Sandwich in front of me. I bit into it.  The spiciness of the hotlinks worked up to a good kick that wasn’t overpowering to make me feel like I should have ordered a glass of milk, but just enough to make me a take a bite of the red peppers and sweet, caramelized onions to compliment the spiciness.

The egg yolk in the sandwich started running after several bites, serving as a good sauce on top of the layers of onions, peppers, cheese, bacon, and hotlinks. The cheese was actually melted, into salty strings. The crispy garlic bits on top of the egg were a toasty, spicy touch.

I was satisfied after this sandwich — but the little dessert devil on my shoulder was pressing me to try what the Buttermilk food truck had to offer.

Its menu advertised homemade breakfast items like cake donuts and pancake bites. I had to try the Red Velvet Pancake Bites — much smaller than your traditional pancakes but just a bit bigger than the silver dollar pancakes I used to eat as a kid.  An alluring bright red, the pancake bites were soft and moist, like cake, with chocolate chips. The butter on top of the bites was like cream.

By the time I got home, I was ready to crawl into bed to sleep off my food coma (which was completely worth it).

Walter Ozawa, a first-timer at the event, also liked the food trucks. Before even taking the first bite of his Banana Nutella crepe from the Crepe’n Around food truck, he said, “I’ll definitely keep coming back.”

And so will I.

Read the original article here.

Capture the mouth-watering magic each week for your chance to win some cold, hard (iTunes) cash and other prizes!

Here’s how to do it:
1. Come to Lunch Truck It every Wednesday for the rest of July.
2. Snap some pics.
3. Email your best shot to: LunchTruckIt@gmail.com (Subject: Hot Shots) by noon on Thursday.
4. We post all entries to the Lunch Truck It Facebook page.
5. You tell all your friends to “Like” your entry.

Here’s the stuff we HAVE to tell you:
- To make the weekly Facebook posting, pictures must be emailed to LunchTruckIt@gmail.com and received by noon each Thursday.
- Pictures will be posted for one week at a time. Likes will be tallied at the end of each week (Thursday – Wednesday).
- Winners will be announced on August 4, 2011 after three weeks of entries have been posted and Liked.

GRAND PRIZE $50 iTunes Card + awesome swag bag + bragging rights
Two Runners Up: $15 iTunes Card