TGIF FRIDAY: Asian cuisine fits well at the "Eat Real Festival" in Oakland

Dennis Villafranca, AKA The Jeepney Guy, will be at Oakland's Eat Real Festival.

IT'S ALL ABOUT FOOD this weekend. I'll be at the Eat Real Festival in Oakland, an annual event featuring over 60 food trucks serving their specialities.

I don't know if anybody has noticed this but Asian food seems fit the food truck venues perfectly. They are inexpensive, tasty, easy to serve. If you've ever been to Asia, this is about as close as you can get to sample the sumptuous street food served there ... but, California, being the center of innovation, always has an impact, even in food.

Some of the most popular ones in the San Francisco Bay Area have their roots in Philippine cuisine. Chicken and pork adobo, sigsig, lechon, put them in a bun, over rice, wrap it in a taco or burrito and you have some of the Bay Area foodies' favorite dishes. Lumpia and all its variations are made for quick, eat-with-your fingers food. Look for the Jeepney Guy.

Koja truck features Korean BBQ over fries.

For sweets, halo-halo, banana lumpia and mango or macapuno ice cream attract the curious and adventuresome.

The other Asian cuisine that has been attracting off-the-grid fans is Korean barbecue, pork, short-ribs, chicken, beef. Thank you Roy Choi, who was the first to combine the taco tortilla, BBQ and kimchee. to launch his Koji Truck empire.

I'm a little bit bummed that Señor Sigsig or the Hapa SF Truck won't be there. Señor Sigsig will be at other locations in the Bay Area that weekend, though. 

Hapa's William Pilz has quit the  food truck scene but his food can be found in brick-and-mortar restaurants, at Charlie Phan's restaurants at the California Academy of Science in the Moss Room and the Academy Cafe. 

If you want to go beyond Asian cuisine, there are plenty of other cuisines to sample: Italian soul food, and lots of BBQ. Here's a complete list of the trucks that will be there along with a wide sampling northern California's craft beers. 

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