Los Angeles gets bagged on sometimes because it does not historically boast the haute cuisine that many cities back east have built up over centuries. This stigma has been somewhat ameliorated in recent years, as the city’s food “scene” has taken off and become more recognized in America and around the world for its innovation and quality.

One market that L.A. has actually led in has been in the development of food trucks. Street food in the United States, once no more than mobile greasy spoons bringing tacos, falafel, and hot dogs to the masses, has been elevated to gourmet status through these food trucks. Using fresh ingredients, cheeky spins on old classics, and relatively high prices (!), Los Angeles’ street food has become one-of-a-kind.

As usual, UCLA was right in the middle of it all. One of the first successes in the field, Kogi Truck, which mixes Mexican-style preparations with Korean barbecue, advertised heavily at UCLA during its fledgling days, and still stops by campus regularly. And everyone knows that the Vietnamese banh mi sandwichery Nom Nom Truck was founded by two UCLA alums! Adding to that, in response to the renovation of venerable South Campus eatery Bombshelter, campus officials have brought in a veritable who’s who of food trucks to feed our hungry population – two per day from about 11 AM to 3 PM, in my experience – making UCLA the place to be for a foodie in Southern California.

Now, some links that may be of interest regarding the Court of Sciences food trucks:

1 – Some Yelp reviews that may help you choose.

2 – A slightly dated page containing many of the vendors’ websites (scroll all the way down for the complete list).

3 – A page with the schedule for the month (subject to change).

4 – The Facebook page and associated Twitter feed (updated daily).

Hungry? Good. Now go get full.

-Princeton