If you have an emails job, the day-to-day routine of going to a corporate office can become stifling. Life loses a bit of surprise. Perhaps things seem a little gray.
But then you remember you live in a city where all kinds of unexpected things happen, and these things bring pops of color to your life. This is the province of the food pop-up.
The food pop-up is easy to access, casual and temporary. You don’t need to make plans, or fuss over a big menu. You just show up and trust that the food will be good and that you might even bump into a friend or two. So long as you get there before the food runs out, you get to enjoy something special that is not available to you 24 hours a day.
On all these fronts, El Camino delivers. It’s the platonic ideal of a food pop-up.
I missed their first breakfast appearance in the parking lot outside of Heirloom Rustic Ales last month and regretted it because the menu looked really fun and the video they made to promote it was charming. That squeaking, camo-pattern blue van instantly became iconic.
And so I walked up this morning to find chefs Ben Deibert (Et Al, Cork Wise) and Marco Herrera (Noche) working the griddles alongside guest chef Alex Koch (Tina’s) and a few other folks. Herrera talked me into ordering one of everything.
Everything meant a brisket burrito, a biscuit served with pepper jelly and guest chef Koch’s contribution to the pop-up: a griddled brioche breakfast sandwich. I called in backup to help eat it all.