Cart for a Cause
Photo by Oliver Seldman
Cart for a Cause has been hitting the streets of LA every Tuesday lunchtime since March 23. Each week, a different celebrity chef mans the truck and prepares a gourmet meal for $10 a plate. 100% of the net proceeds go to St. Vincent Meals on Wheels, a program which feeds the homebound elderly. It's a one-for-three deal: every lunch sold at Cart for a Cause equals three square meals for one senior citizen.
Photo by Oliver Seldman
We visited Cart for a Cause on April 6 at the Pacific Design Center, when chef Dong Choi of West Hollywood's Comme Ça restaurant was manning the stove. He offered two menu options: Le French Dip and Quiche Lorraine. For $10, you got an entree, a drink (Pom Wonderful is one of CFAC's sponsors, and was offering a range of teas and coffee drinks; Fiji Water is another sponsor), a bag of Everybody's Nuts California pistachios, and a cookie.
Photo by Oliver Seldman
The French dip sandwich was a delicious shiny-topped roll filled with melt-in-your-mouth rare roast beef. It came with gravy for dipping. The Quiche Lorraine had big, chunky cubes of ham suspended in the egg custard: it looked beautiful, but the ham had a touch too much fat on it for me. The quiche's crust was divine - I could have eaten it all day.
I have to say, I was kind of disappointed with the cookies, and coming from me, that's a harsh criticism. I will eat and enjoy almost anything with sugar in it. Hostess Ding Dongs or Pierre Hermé macarons, they're all going in my mouth. I got an oatmeal raisin and a chocolate-chocolate-chip cookie at CFAC, and they were both a bit too crumbly and dry.
CFAC will be out and about until the fall. Chefs often volunteer with the truck more than once: Comme Ça has served lunch twice so far. Past chefs have included Eric Greenspan of the Foundry; Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook from Animal; and Alex Becker from Nobu West Hollywood. Check CFAC's Twitter feed and Facebook page every Tuesday to see who's on board and where the truck's going to park.
Photo by Oliver Seldman
