Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Sushi Truck Rolls into LA's Food Truck Scene in Hot Weather

By Esther Kang

On a typical morning, Yatta-! co-owners Jun Hua and Hiro Igarashi wake up at 5 a.m. to make an early trip to the fish market in downtown Los Angeles.

Then, for the next four hours, the twosome wash, scale and cut, preparing the freshest of ingredients for a full day of business. They head out the door at 10 a.m. with plenty of time to hit the lunch hours.

Yatta-!, one of three sushi-themed food trucks in the Los Angeles County, hopped onto the recent wave of the street-food phenomenon in June. However, the business has recently faced more challenges than the other local food trucks due to high temperatures.


“On a hot summer day, raw fish served on a food truck doesn’t necessarily sound tempting,” Hua, 24, said. “[Also],

people generally don’t want to wait outside in line when it’s hot.”


Especially on days like Monday, which saw a record-breaking high of 113 degrees Fahrenheit in Los Angeles, Hua said he has experienced one too many unsuccessful attempts to draw in cautious passer-biers.


But Hua said he guarantees the ingredients are fresh, which is why he is not worried about the new regulation that requires food trucks to carry their letter grades.

The team makes sure to keep the refrigerator compressor running in the truck, and by the end of the night, they throw out all the unused fish without a second thought, he said.

“We aim to sell out, and we’ve learned to never over prepare,” he said. “This way, we keep the waste minimal. Freshness is key.”

Several years ago, Hua and chef Igarashi, 25, met through mutual friends at their alma mater, University of California, Riverside. It was only a matter of time before they realized their shared vision of revolutionizing the concept of sushi in modern-day America.

“Generally speaking, sushi is exclusively served in fancy restaurants,” Hua said. “So we came up with the idea of serving sushi in a manner as convenient as a McDonald’s drive-thru.”

After graduating in 2008, the two business partners toiled separately for a year to save up for their new venture—Hua at a E-Commerce company and Igarashi at a Japanese restaurant as the head chef.

After much preparation and logistical proceedings, such as acquiring the proper licensing to vend their food product in the L.A. County and Santa Monica, they were good to go.

The truck makes regular stops at FIDM’s Los Angeles campus, offices in downtown and streets in Santa Monica. One of their favorite stops, Igarashi said, is the USC area.

“[College students] are most open about trying new types of food,” he said. “So we try to make experimental rolls that they might like.”

The Japanese-fusion truck serves six types of sushi rolls. The menu also features Igarashi’s “All-American” roll, which, with ground beef and melted cheese with rice and seaweed, is “like a Japanese cheeseburger,” he said.

Janet Anderson, a USC grad student studying linguistics, said she initially had reservations about eating sushi from a food truck but ended up buying a roll.


“I guess I just trust that they use fresh ingredients,” Anderson said. “I just had to try it because what we generally see around here are mostly taco food trucks. I’d never seen a sushi food truck before.”

Lois Reid, a worker at the USC School of Dentistry, said she found their unusual method of vending sushi accessible and convenient.

“It’s my mom’s 96th birthday today, and she wanted sushi," Reid said. “Unfortunately I didn’t have time to shop, but this way I can just grab it on the go. She’s gonna love it.”

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Audio Interview

with my good friend Brandon Chang, on the biggest influence in his life.


Listen to the edited version.

Listen to the full interview.