Kogi Food Truck - LAX Airport
Is it odd that one of my bucket list adventures was located at an airport? I say no. Airports offer a lot of good places to try, especially when they focus on local good noms.
Kogi Food Truck was definitely on the bucket list. It's located in Terminal 4 at the LAX airport. I thought it would be easy to get to, but it truly turned out to be an adventure.
I'm from southern California, but this would have been the second time I had ever flown through LAX. I envisioned LAX to be like any other airport and I was mistaken. First of all I was a terminal that had "old school" jet bridges because it wasn't even a jet bridge. You had to walk outside in the elements and could practically walk on the tarmac itself. It was interesting because I would have expected something more modern. However, it was a welcoming change since the weather so nice.
I found myself in a section of terminal 4 where gates 44 A-I were located. I knew the Kogi Food Truck was located near gate 46 so I was a little confused. Thankfully I was able to reach my friend that suggested Kogi to begin with and confirmed that I would have to make my way to gate 46 via a shuttle. In all my travels I had yet to ride a shuttle from one terminal to another. I've ridden the SkyLink at DFW, which is a train that takes you around the whole airport. But never a shuttle. That was an interesting experience as well. We were literally driving on the tarmac and stopping to let huge planes continue on to their gates. We arrived in one piece and I was one step closer to amazingness.
Kogi Food Truck is somewhat of a staple in Los Angeles that started back in 2008. They offer their well known Korean BBQ tacos along with a different assortment of Korean / Mexican fusion. It started as one food truck and now they have several along with a few brick & mortar locations.
I ordered their infamous signature short rib taco....
MIND. BLOWN.
Their description alone will make your mouth water:
Double caramelized Korean barbecue short rib, a salsa roja made from Korean and Mexican chillies, our cilantro-onion-lime relish and our chili soy Kogi slaw —all over two, crisply-griddled corn tortillas.
It was heaven in taco form. The short rib was so tender and had a mild sweet flavor from the caramelization. The cilantro, onion & lime relish was immensely light and refreshing. It balanced out the sweetness of the shot rib quite well. I wanted to have more than one, but was short on time and not quite starving. The line was long and total wait time was about 20 minutes. I made it back on the shuttle and back to my gate with plenty of time to spare and savor this amazing treat.
All in all I cannot wait to try this again, whether it's with a layover in LAX or when my travels finally take me "home". In the mean time, if you're ever in LA or have enough time to make your way to Terminal 4 Gate 46A in LAX, please do so. The adventures you take to get there will totally be worth it!
