A few years ago, I visited Crustacean restaurant for dinner. Crustacean is one of the An family of restaurants in San Francisco (they also own Thanh Long in SF, another Crustacean in Beverly Hills, Tiato in Santa Monica, and Anqi Bistro in Costa Mesa), and a food truck, dubbed An the Go.
The An family is famous for one thing in particular: "An's Garlic Noodles". We had them at Crustacean when I visited of course, and I liked the garlicky flavor. I'll leave you to read more about the restaurant's claim to fame in my previous review.
I'm not normally a big fan of food trucks, but as you've been reading the past few weeks, my company has been supplementing some of our dining options with food trucks, so I've been trying them out. When I spotted the An the Go truck, I was actually excited, and thought there might be hope at this particular truck. I was quite hopeful that they would be serving their signature dish. I was in luck!
Service was fast and efficient, inside the truck was grill that was in constant action, and my food was handed over within a minute or two of my ordering, unlike many of the other, slower trucks I tried.
The menu was simple: An's Garlic Noodles, Lemongrass Chicken Skewers, and Mixed Veggie Stir Fry.
I mostly just wanted the garlic noodles, but decided to try the full meal.
I eagerly dug into the garlic noodles. They were fairly delicious. The noodles weren't too mushy, although they were clearly not freshly prepared. They weren't as buttery as I remembered from last time, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The garlic flavor was remarkable. So, so good. Serious garlic. The serving of noodles was ridiculously generous, and somehow, I devoured it all. Did I mention, so good!
The chicken had a good char on it, but was thigh meat, really not my style.
The mixed veggie stir fry contained broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, and tofu. The veggies were decent, a bit overcooked, not super flavorful, but not bad.
But, the noodles. Oh man, the noodles. So good! I'd go back again in a heartbeat.
Remember when I said I'd go back? Well, I did!
My work group had a picnic in Golden Gate Park, and we were given the choice of all the Off the Grid food trucks to cater the event. I knew the moment I saw the list where my vote was going: An the Go! I eagerly told all my co-workers about the garlic noodles and encouraged them to vote for An the Go. I may or may not have been accused of stuffing the ballot box. Regardless, An the Go won.
We also picked a sweet treat, Frozen Kuhsterd, which you can read about separately.
The menu for the day was of course the garlic noodles, with veggie stir fry, and our choice of chicken or pork skewer.
Since I knew how large the garlic noodles serving was, I opted to split one box with Ojan, particularly since we had a ton of other snacks, and of course the frozen custard to look forward to. I let him pick the skewer, since I wasn't really intending to eat it. He went for pork. I didn't try it.
The veggie mix was the same as my previous serving, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and tofu. Unremarkable, perhaps a bit mushy and not particularly flavorful.
The garlic noodles let me down. I guess I had really high expectations, but this time around, I just didn't taste much garlic. The garlic is supposed to be their defining characteristic! And again, like the last time I got them from the truck, they weren't buttery like at the restaurant. I tried not to let my disappointment show, since I was the one who advocated so loudly for An the Go, but, they were pretty plain and boring. I saw others asking for hot sauce to go along with the noodles, so I clearly wasn't the only one who felt this way. I saw a lot of noodles go into the trash, but then again, the servings were huge.
The An family is famous for one thing in particular: "An's Garlic Noodles". We had them at Crustacean when I visited of course, and I liked the garlicky flavor. I'll leave you to read more about the restaurant's claim to fame in my previous review.
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| The Truck. |
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| Menu for the day. |
I mostly just wanted the garlic noodles, but decided to try the full meal.
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| An's Garlic Noodle ($7.50), Lemongrass Chicken Skewer ($2.50, Mixed Veggie Stir Fry ($2.50). |
The chicken had a good char on it, but was thigh meat, really not my style.
The mixed veggie stir fry contained broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, and tofu. The veggies were decent, a bit overcooked, not super flavorful, but not bad.
But, the noodles. Oh man, the noodles. So good! I'd go back again in a heartbeat.
Update Review, May 1, 2015
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| An the Go, Frozen Kuhsterd. |
My work group had a picnic in Golden Gate Park, and we were given the choice of all the Off the Grid food trucks to cater the event. I knew the moment I saw the list where my vote was going: An the Go! I eagerly told all my co-workers about the garlic noodles and encouraged them to vote for An the Go. I may or may not have been accused of stuffing the ballot box. Regardless, An the Go won.
We also picked a sweet treat, Frozen Kuhsterd, which you can read about separately.
 |
| Garlic noodles with mixed vegetable stir-fry and 5-spiced pork skewer. |
Since I knew how large the garlic noodles serving was, I opted to split one box with Ojan, particularly since we had a ton of other snacks, and of course the frozen custard to look forward to. I let him pick the skewer, since I wasn't really intending to eat it. He went for pork. I didn't try it.
The veggie mix was the same as my previous serving, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and tofu. Unremarkable, perhaps a bit mushy and not particularly flavorful.
The garlic noodles let me down. I guess I had really high expectations, but this time around, I just didn't taste much garlic. The garlic is supposed to be their defining characteristic! And again, like the last time I got them from the truck, they weren't buttery like at the restaurant. I tried not to let my disappointment show, since I was the one who advocated so loudly for An the Go, but, they were pretty plain and boring. I saw others asking for hot sauce to go along with the noodles, so I clearly wasn't the only one who felt this way. I saw a lot of noodles go into the trash, but then again, the servings were huge.
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